Even in the city, there is sky

grandma nick

2009-11-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

My Grandma Nick finally went home to be with the Lord last October 26th. She was 92 years old and was a Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother, and Great Great Grandmother.

She was an amazing women and had has such a sacrificial heart. She was always giving of her self. The last couple of years she suffered from dementia and was ready to go home to the Lord and He finally took her home! I am so very thankful to have had her a part of my life.

Annna is engaged

2009-10-16T12:40:00.000-07:00

My little sister Annna is engaged! Wow I knew it was going to happen soon but wow. They are so cute and it has been wonderful to see how the Lord has brought them together. Congrats little sis!

a fresh start

2009-10-12T09:01:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a very long time since that last time i posted anything. Months really but i am going to try to start fresh and start posting again.

I can not promise anything but i am going to try to do better.

So much has gone on these past couple of months too much to recap so i will just tell you what i am working on now.

Students Run LA (SRLA) has started up again. We had our first race of the season Saturday. It was a 5k. It was a great way to start the season at the beach. Which i think was pretty cool because the Marathon this year will end at the beach. So we start there and we end there. With many many miles in between.

We have officially launch our house church and have been meeting for a about a month. We are discovering how we do church in a small house setting and studying how they did it in Acts.

Last things are rolling with the Toy Giveaway. We have more people getting involved this year and it has been exciting to see people stepping up.

So the next couple of months will be busy and the only way things will get done will be by the grace of God, which is exciting because I will know it was God working and not me.

el pollo loco

2009-08-02T09:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went to El Pollo Loco. I had a coupon for a free two for one chicken bowl (my favorite) so i could not pass it up. El Pollo is just a fast food Mexican place but it does not even compare to Taco Bell. I really love it and one of those places i just crave. Because i had a coupon i decided to find the nearest one near me and go yesterday. I really do not go often so i looked it up on the web and found one not even a mile from my house. It was in a strip mall and the parking lot was crazy and i just keep thinking i hope this is worth it. But when i got in it was not crowed at all and i walk right up to the counter and ordered. The place was so clean but the best part of the trip was there were two guys with guitars playing mariachi music. How cool is that. It really made my day. How often to you go to a fast food place and have that kind of experience?

summer fun with my canvas group (aka:bible study/life group)

2009-07-31T08:28:00.000-07:00

My canvas group went on a camping trip last month. It was a lot of fun. I started the time with a very exciting hike with Ben and Stephen up Mt Baldy. We were the only ones up for the challenge of the mountain. :) We meet some great hiking partners along the way and had a great time running down the mountain. We got back in plenty of time for root beer floats with the group, reading under trees, cards, naps, and some good fellowship and food. It was a very restful and rewarding time together.

car trouble is no match for the Gordon brothers

At the top!! Elev 10,064

look Ben's legs still almost touch the ground. :)

pictures from the 4th of July in New Mexico

2009-07-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

new little Nephew

2009-06-27T23:09:00.000-07:00

I am in Denver visiting my new little nephew Zeke and my brother Cisco and Sister in law Jen. It has been so fun to spend time with them. Little Zeke is the 7th grandchild in my family and the 40th great grandchild, and my brothers 1st. Pretty Crazy. I spent the day helping paint their new home and holding little Zeke as much as I could. I am pretty tired but it was worth it. I even got to take a little nap with Zeke. It does not get better then that.

open house party friday night!

2009-06-18T12:08:00.001-07:00

I feel so blessed. we are having an open house for our new place tomorrow night. Things really are coming together and I am just feeling so blessed by the Lord.

There is a filming happening on our street that night which i was really afraid was going to mess the night up. But the production company is going to give us free valet service for the night! How amazing is that! I feel so blessed.

I will let you know how the night goes! and hopefully take some pictures.

Pictures from SRLA awards night

2009-06-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to add pictures from our awards night for our marathon runners for a long time so here they are. It was a great night! So many people helped to put it together. And I really think it affected the students in a great way.

More pictures from SRLA

2009-06-08T14:46:00.000-07:00

The team 6am ish before the marathon

Finished!!!

this last picture is almost at mile 26th

babies!

2009-06-08T09:40:00.000-07:00

Lucas and Angela just had their baby boy this morning! Pictures soon to come!!!!!

Now just waiting on Cisco and Jen. Any day she is officially two days late. come on little guy we are all waiting.

My sister Chrissy and my little niece Lexy

2009-06-04T12:08:00.000-07:00

Lexy loves reading. The only children's book I have is The Giving Tree. She loved it and we read it over and over again. When ever we got to the part in the book that shows the little boy hugging the tree Lexy would hug the book. She is just too cute!

Lexy is a little dare devil and loved the ocean. She had no fear and scared us a couple of times when the waves over took her.

enjoying a cup of coffee!

I feel so blessed to have my sister Chrissy and her daughter Alexys visit me for a whole week. My sister spent a couple of days with her college friends while they were here and I got to take care of Lexy all by myself for 3 1/2 days. I loved every minute of having them. They left yesterday. It was a little sad for me cleaning up the cute little hand prints all over the mirror in the bed room and picking up the toys scattered around the house. I loved being an Auntie and loved hearing Lexy call me Auntie all the time. Definitely priceless. It was nice to visit with my sister too. I feel so blessed to have her as a friend, it was hard to have them leave yesterday.

So now with the marathon done and Chrissy and Lexy gone I will have so much time but i guess i will need to just catch up on all the things i have put off. So still I am busy or as a good friend called it active.

LA Marathon

2009-06-04T10:05:00.000-07:00

So I am not sure if any one reads my blog anymore because I have not really kept up with it these last couple of months. Funny I have been trying to make my life more simple, giving myself more time and yet it seems like it has been busier then ever.

I started training for a marathon working with a student mentor group. I did not plan on running the marathon at first but the more and more I worked with the students the more and more I thought "hey if they could do it so can I". So May 25th I ran my first Marathon.

I thought I would finish it and never want to do one again but i did not feel that way at all, it was more the opposite and was thinking when can I do this again. It was the perfect day! We had worried all season that because the marathon date was changed to May it would be really HOT. On practice days when the students complained it was too hot I would just say, "Its good training for the marathon. It going to be even hotter." But it was not hot at all! I had a lot of people praying for the weather and it was the most beautiful overcast cool day ever. I could not have asked for a better day to run.

I was able to run with Ember one of the student I was training with for about half of the race. It was fun to see his excitement as we passed other people on our team. He started the year slower and really improved on his speed toward the end. I ran with a friend Stephanie until mile 18. She is the one in the picture above. We are at mile 15 in the picture and running strong. It was such a blessing to run with her. I really feel blessed to have so many people support me in this race. One of my good friends joined me at mile 20 and ran with me for a while. She also brought me some fuel.

I don't know if I ever hit a wall but I have to say the last 3 miles did seem like they would never end. The last part of the race was up hill ( a lot of the course was a gradual up hill, but there were a couple of steeper hills too).

It was fun to see random people i know along the race course cheering us on. I was even able to finish hitting my goal. I wanted to hit under 5 hours and my time was 4:58!

All of the students in our program ran well. Greg and Julie the other coaches where great too, they did not run the whole race this year but they ran in some student and supported us along the way. It was wonderful to see them along the course and Greg even ran with me for a short bit at the very end of the race. Even though a marathon is something you have to do on your own, it is also something so many people are a part of. You are not ever alone in it.

We had an awards banquet I will write about later and post some pictures from. It was a lot of fun, real Hollywood style.

So much more i want to share but that will have to be for another day. I promise to get better at updating.

i don't even remember the last time i posted something

2009-05-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

wow it has been a long time. so much has happened i don't even know where to start so i will just catch who ever is reading on a little of it. i moved apt so it has taken me about two weeks to get Internet again. I am training for a marathon! I have just one week left. i have gone out of town a lot this past month. so for all of those things i have not kept up on blogging. i will have to write about some of my past months adventures soon but right now i am too tired. i just wanted to let people know i was still here and kicking (or should we say running :) )
I will write more soon.

running, backpacking, and moving

2009-04-19T13:24:00.000-07:00

I have not written in a while so but I am in the airport waiting for a flight so I have a little time.

Students Run LA (running part of my life)
I have been mentoring kids in my neighborhood at a local high school and training with them to run the LA marathon. Yesterday I ran 18 miles, a first for me. I really have started to love running and i love the mentor part so it is the perfect fit.

WWLT
Currently I am on my way to a Womens wilderness LT. A time in the Smoky mountains to pray, fast, and spend time in solitude with the Lord. I also get to see some dear friends in the process too. It has been something i have wanted to do for a long time and it has been such a gift to go at this time in my life. It reminds me how much the Lord knows what we need before we do. :)

Moving
The week i get back I move into my new apartment with a new roommate. I will still be in the same area just different apt and roommate. Our new home is more then i even prayed for. We have already meet neighbors, which is a huge gift. I have been wanting something like this the whole time i have lived in LA. I feel like my first 3 years i had this somewhat but not to this level. Really being involved and a part of a neighborhood is something I have desired and I already feel it happen at a deeper level then ever before and it is only the start.

So that is a real quick update on what is happening with me.

I pray you are all doing well and would love to hear from you. i may not respond right a way but i will eventually. :)

when it rains it pours

2009-03-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

That is a very true statement for me this next two weeks with visitors. So much so they even overlap a lot. My brother Lucas and Angela his wife are going to come visit from NM Thursday-Tuesday, then Kayla (a girl i mentored this summer) is coming into town on Sunday for a week. While she is still here a mission group from NM will be coming and to top it all off my sister Annna and a friend of hers Amber will be here at the same time. The mission trip, Annna & Amber, and Kayla will all leave on next Sunday. It is going to be a little crazy for those 10 days. I love people to visit it is just a little crazy when they come all at the same time.

being towed and the kindness of others

2009-03-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday i was helping a friend do flowers for a wedding she agreed to do. I got to her house around 9am. I parked in a place that was ok to park at until 4pm so i thought i was ok but time got away from me and i forgot to move my car at 4pm. at 4:18 i got a ticket for $78 dollars and then they towed my car. so i had to pay an additional cost of $243.80 so a grand total of $321.80! that is kind of harsh! but i really felt such kindness of others yesterday. a friend of the girl i was helping do the flowers took my to try to get my car. we where not able to get it last night though because we got there at 7:15pm and they closed at 7pm. but it was so nice of this guy i don't even know to try to help me out. He even gave me $40 to help toward the fund to get me car back and would not let me pay him back. The friend i was helping do flowers for also gave me a little so I will end up paying only $231.80. that still sounds like a lot but it could be worse. all i could think about last night was it could be worse. i was blessed to have people help me out to get my car back. i know have it again safe and sound. there are so many worse things that could happen. while i was waiting i saw a guy packing up his things and moving them using a bike cart because he had been evicted from his apt. i have a place to live and friends to help me in times of need. I have a wonderful God that will help provided for me in ways i don't even know. I am so blessed!

ps the car in the picture is not mine

Zoo

2009-03-02T13:30:00.000-08:00

Danyelle

2009-03-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

Auntie Chrissy

Beth (new mommy) and her little angel Danyelle

look at that chin or should i say chins

Auntie Shalom

all the cousins

Derick is such a good cousin

Daddy Daniel and his baby girl Danyelle

Last week I went to visit my new niece Danyelle and family in New Mexico. It was so fun to see everyone and just relax with family. No special event or holiday, just hang out with family. I got to hold Danyelle so much! She is six weeks old now and since I was visiting everyone let me hold her as much as I wanted. When you have a big family that loves babies as much as we do, usually everyone is fighting over the baby so it was a nice privilege to have. I also got to spend the day at the zoo with my nieces and nephew and hold Matt, my cousin Rachel’s baby all day. There is something magical about going to the zoo with little kids. Their excitement and wonder at everything is contagious.

2009-02-02T19:52:00.000-08:00

so i am not sure what happened to January? I can not believe i did not write on this blog even once. i wrote a lot of blogs in my head but they never got down on paper or i guess you should say the screen. (cheezy yes) they were some good ones too that kept running through my head but then i would get busy and the day would pass and well you know how it is.

I am doing good, again in an exploratory stage, really seeking God on direction. Looking at what He wants my focus to be. Asking why I am doing what I am doing? Am I living for Shalom or God? I pray I am a light and I am making a difference not just existing. sometimes it feels like i am just existing. :\ i really have been having some good times with God and really feeling His peace and strength. We have such an amazing God words really can not describe how blessed we are.

so i just wanted to write and let you know i am here still.

ps i have a new niece!!!! Daniel and Beth had Danyelle Michelle Kindle Sanchez two weeks ago. she is beautiful! i will have to post some pictures soon. hopefully i will get to see her in person soon too. Daniel and Annna have been doing good sending me pictures and video's to help me not feel so far away. thanks guys

thanks for all your prayers it over!

2008-12-24T02:23:00.000-08:00

you can tell how tired i was and am from all the spell mistakes in the last post. but it is all over and we helped 1259 children or something like that just tonight. we will also be able to help some other children in mexico and other organizations so the total will be over 1300 this year. about 300 to 400 more then last year. i will write more later but right now i must sleep. thanks for all your prayers. and merry christmas!

i am amazed but i am not sure why

2008-12-23T07:19:00.000-08:00

I am amazed at how God comes through all the time is whys you never expect and more then you ever imagined but i am not sure why i am amazed at this because He does it over and over and over again.

I am working on a toy giveaway and we had less day then ever before to set up but the first day we set up more in half a day then we have ever set up in two whole days because of the amazing amount of volunteers.

Because of the economy we have had less toys and donations come in but at the last min and i mean the last min that has started to over flow too. Today is the giveaway and even this morning i am picking up donations i did not know i would get until just last night. And the toy giveaway is today.

I have had more peace the about this year then ever before too!!!!

God is so good. If you are reading this today please pray for the familes that will be coming. That is will be a way for them to see how much God loves them, that it could be a way of connecting with them, that Jesus light would shine through.

children, toys, and Christmas

2008-12-10T22:46:00.000-08:00

right now is the really fun time of the season where i get to help buy toys and find donations for needy families. Last year we helped about a 1000 kids and well every year it has grown a couple hundred so i don't even know what this year will look like. getting donations seems to be a little harder this year but it is not easy any year. The Lord always provides and comes through with amazing miracles. I love to see how he works. I just spoke to a woman that attended the event with her children last year. She is homeless and has been in and out of shelters or living out of her car for the past year. This year she is still in need but is also asking how she can help and volunteer. these are the reason i love doing it. really seeing it touch lives. please keep me in prayer as we are still trying to get enough donations and buy the last part of the toys and clothing we need.

pictures

2008-12-08T22:13:00.001-08:00

I just loved my nephew's hat
My sister Chrissy and her baby Lexy

I got up for a run and this was the sunrise that morning

Some pictures from my last trip to New Mexico. Sorry i have not written more this is such a crazy time of year for me. I am in charge of a toy giveaway for needy families in my neighborhood and this is crunch time. But it is the time of year that i really like because of all the anticipation. about two more weeks until the big event. I was thinking back on this past year and I am amazed at how much has happened. It seems like it has been longer then just a year, and yet it has gone so fast at the same time.

my grandpa

2008-12-02T20:12:00.000-08:00

My Grandpa went to be with the Lord last Wednesday morning.
I thought it would not be this hard or hurt this
much because he had been sick for a while and knows the Lord and is in now with the Lord. He was ready to go home and now is in no more pain and is
worshiping with the Lord like never before. But it still hurts so much. There is such a
huge loss in my life and my whole families life. Please keep my
Grandma in your prayers too. They would have been married 66 years
last Friday. He was a man so tough he always told us he ate nails for
breakfast, he was so on fire for the Lord you could not help but see
his joy and the light of Christ in his life, and he was the best
example of a prayer warrior I have ever known. i don't want to think
about not having him here and in my life but i know he was ready to be
with the Lord. He was a man that never stopped praising the Lord and
is now doing that all the more.

You could always hear and see the love he had for my grandma. The picture above he is reading her letters while he was stationed in Germany during World War II. He was stationed there during the invasion of Normandy and he lived in fox holes for 11 months during the years he was there. He later got the medal of honor for his heroic acts.

Even in his 80's he was riding his bike with his grandchildren, competing in the senior Olympics (where he won lots of medals) and serving with his church. He was always sharing about the love and grace of God. He was a hero in so many ways!

rain

2008-11-25T22:51:00.000-08:00

There is something so relaxing about rain. It is raining tonight, and i love it. ok so i would not love it if i was driving because LA drivers and rain are..... well lets just say not something you want to experience. But i am not driving, i am at home under a large quilt, getting ready to go to sleep to the sound of rain. it also makes it feel more like fall or winter instead of the 90 degree weather we have been having. i love the rain! it rains so rarely in LA it's nice to have these times as long as you don't have to go out. if you have to drive you need to add twice as much time to your travel time because LA drivers get crazy and scared with just a water on the road. kind of funny if you are not out there in it. walking in the rain is another thing all together. one of the things i like to do the most is walk in the rain. it reminds me of college. i went on so many walks in the rain in college, getting soaked but loving it.

fires

2008-11-17T00:48:00.000-08:00

The sky had this very strange orange glow all day. The sky that should be blue was full of smoke and you could barely see the sun. When I went out there was ash all over my car and it has been hard to breath even where I live.

The Fire Department reports "Around 800 residences -- ranging from multi-million-dollar mansions to modest prefabricated mobile homes -- have been razed by a series of wind-whipped fires that have erupted through the region since Thursday.

At least 50,000 evacuation orders have been issued and more than 35,600 acres (14,400 hectares) have been destroyed in the blazes, which have stretched from Santa Barbara to southeast of Los Angeles."

LA is always having fires but this time it seems worse then before because its more peoples homes then in the past fires. I don't remember it being this hard to breath before either. It has been very warm all weekend too in the late 80's and 90's. It was just a strange day.

Quilt

2008-11-08T17:45:00.000-08:00

i wanted a new quilt so i decided to make one. i have never made one before but thought it would be fun. i had some friends that were going to the fabric district downtown one day so i went with them and got the fabric and started on it. i learned a lot and am pretty happy with my first quilt. it is simple but fun. i think i am going to have to do this more and maybe get a little more crazy with the designs. i have some fun ideas just not the time or money to do it yet. but i really enjoyed seeing a project like this come together. I am going to sleep so good tonight!

My Family is Exploding

2008-11-01T08:52:00.000-07:00

So currently I have two beautiful Nieces and two very tough and handsome Nephews. But I am soon going to have many, many more.

My youngest brother Daniel and his wife Beth are expecting a baby girl in January.

My oldest brother Aaron and his wife Sarah are adopting two children from Ethiopian, prayerfully in the spring before the fall of next year.

Two weeks ago I found out that another one of my brothers Lucas and his wife Angela are due in July.

And last week my brother Cisco and his wife Jen called me and said they are due in June.

I also heard my sister Chrissy and her husband Daryl are going to start trying again soon.

Lots and Lots of babies! Crazy!

update on my Grandpa

2008-10-22T16:02:00.000-07:00

I just spoke with my dad today and he said my grandpa is still in the hospital but he is not going to have surgery. they just have him on medication and are doing physical therapy with him. hopefully he will come home soon. He fought cancer before so I know he can do it again. He is the toughest man i know. i think it is just good for him to know why he has been so sick. just keep him in your prayers. Thanks

please be in prayer

2008-10-18T16:19:00.001-07:00

I just found out my Grandpa Sanchez has gallbladder cancer. He had prostate cancer about 10 years ago but had been total healed from that. But for the past couple of years he has been having a lot of health problems. The doctors gave him a test about a year ago and found out he had gallbladder cancer but for some reason we are not sure why, did not tell him and did not start him on treatment. So he was having more problems this week and went in again to the doctor and that is when they told him about the cancer. They are going to have surgery possible on Monday to take out the tumor. They think he may also have some type of bone cancer but they are not sure and will find out more after the surgery. Please be in prayer for wisdom for the doctors and strength for my Grandpa and Grandma. He is the most amazing man I know. A man that loves the Lord and his family in inspiring ways. I know the Lord has him in his hands what ever might happen.

Zion turns 2

2008-10-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

Jenn a friend of mines son Zion turned 2 yesterday and I made the cake for his birthday party. I really had fun making it. He loved it too which was great. It was hard to keep the little kids out of it until it was time to eat it. I should make theme cakes more often, so next time someone turns 3 or 35 let me know and I will create a dinosaur cake or something special like that. :)

bowling

2008-10-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

I went bowling with the girls a couple of weeks ago. It was not meant to be a girls night out but I guess the boys were intimidated by our amazing bowling skills. Ok well that may not be totally true. I got more gutter balls that night then I had ever gotten before BUT I was really tired. It was a fun night out I am going to have to do it again, maybe when I am not so tired. :)

amanda and justin's wedding

2008-10-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

So here are some pictures from the wedding i did flowers for last weekend. It was a lot of fun, hard long week but a lot of fun.

flowers, weddings, and sunrises

2008-10-01T14:12:00.000-07:00

for the last couple of weeks there have been some very beautiful sunrises. I don't mind getting up early so much, when this is what you see. I think it is the clouds that make all the difference. this picture was taken from my camera phone so it is not the greatest but it gives you an idea of the beauty that wakes me.

I am helping with a wedding for a house mate this week so life is kind of every where but i love helping with weddings. this is at least the 8th or 9th wedding i have done the flowers for. going to the flower market downtown is something that words can not even describe. i don't usually have a reason to buy mass quantities of flowers but it is an experience everyone should have at least once. going to a wearhouse filled with flowers from the typical rose to the very rare kinds i don't even know the names for. I am not very good at bargaining for prices but i still love it and the prices you do get, even if you are not good at bargaining are amazing. i love the feel of downtown and i think that is one thing i would miss the most about not being in the city.

grandma nick

2008-09-22T21:07:00.000-07:00

i took this picture of my grandma nick this summer.
there is just something i love about it.

2008-09-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful Sunrise this morning. Maybe tomorrow I will try to take pictures even if they don't do it justice.

God moments

2008-09-16T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have been having some nice little God moments here in the city the past couple of days. Where God does something and you know He is speaking to your heart.

For the past couple of weeks we have been having the normal haze that takes over LA so much of the year in the mornings. Kind of gloomy but it usually burns off by the afternoon. This morning it was different. There was a beautiful sunrise with great cloud formations to show it off. Very different from the grayness it has been lately. I kept wishing I had my camera but I am sure it would not have done it justice. It almost seemed out of character for the city.

Another one of those God moments happened to me last Friday. I wrote a little in my journal about it.

"I am taking the day off today. It is wonderful! Starting with times of silents with God and now I am at the observatory looking out over a foggy city sea. I love the mix of Griffith Park, you are in nature but the city is all around you. You can still hear and even see it if you want but you can also get lost in all of it. It is not like the streams of Colorado, but it has a different beauty all of its own. I am sitting by this amazing tree. I hear all the sounds of the city but it seems far off and the sounds of the bird above me seems to take over."

deep cleanning

2008-09-14T08:38:00.000-07:00

There is something satisfying about cleaning. Yesterday I spent 5 hours deep cleaning my kitchen. De greasing and much much more. Somethings no one would notice but I know and it makes me feel a funny kind of joy.

2008-09-11T23:38:00.000-07:00

I think I have been afraid of things because I have not been willing to give up what I think things should be like. God seems to try to teach me the same lessons over and over again. But I am ready to step out and be fully here and decide to trust God with what ever that means.

New blog title??

2008-09-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

So i don't really like my new title but I had to change it because I am no longer in Colorado. Any one have a good title that would fit me?

Ok so thanks to Christy I think I like my title now

the wide open sky

2008-09-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

I miss the big beautiful sky of New Mexico and Colorado. It just does not compare to any other place I have been. That is one thing I miss a lot about living in the city. Sitting outside watching the summer lightning storms. The sunsets that take your breath away every time. It is just something you don't get tired of.

weekend

2008-08-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

Mountains

Cabin

Rain

Family

Cards
...........The perfect weekend

road tripping it

2008-08-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

Idella and me

Idella's little girl

my little niece Alexys which by the way is a little dare devil

My Grandpa Sanchez

Riding Grandpa's bike with my nephew Nathan

Last week I started road tripping it back to LA with a couple of stops along the way. I left Estes Park on Sunday and stayed the night with my brother and sister in law in Denver and then went to Colorado Spring to visit an old college friend Idella. She is living there with her husband (also a college friend) and two beautiful children. It was an amazing time, the last time I saw her was maybe 8 years ago and yet it seem like not that long ago and also lifetimes apart.

I then went to New Mexico and spent some time with family. It was very restful and I was able to do a little more processing helping me get ready to come back to LA.

I started the trip from NM back to LA on Friday. I think road tripping is such a great way to transition. I love the adventure of starting off even if it is only across the dessert of NM, mountains of AZ and the dessert of CA it seems like an adventure. My air conditioning broke in my car so it was a very hot rude awakening from the cool mountain air I have been use to. It was a good time to think and talk to God and see some amazing beauties of the dessert. I just loved thinking about the changes I have come through from the mountain to the dessert and now back to the ocean.

i am back in LA

2008-08-16T00:26:00.000-07:00

I will write more later. Just wanted you to know I am back.

found my phone!!!!!!

2008-08-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hiking Longs Peak

2008-08-07T08:44:00.000-07:00

Narrows

The Trough

The Home Stretch(see the little people at the top)

Monday I hiked Longs Peak, its summit is 14,255, it was the first 14er i have ever done. One of the most popular but also one of the hardest ones in Colorado. Normally it should take around 11 hours for the 15 mile hike. There is quite a bit of a (non-technical) kind of treacherous climbing the last couple of miles. It was pretty amazing! Part of the last stretch is 1/2 mile climbing at a 35% angle then you get to the narrows a 1,000-foot decline the width of a sidewalk but in some place much much narrower. After all that you get to something they call the "home stretch" a class 3 climb that requires the use of all four limbs. From the bottom of Home Stretch it seems like there is still a thousand feet to go, but there are only 500 feet left. These 500 feet are at a 45-degree incline though. It is a really amazing hike. One of my hiking partners got very bad altitude sickness during the hike. She made it to the summit but it took a lot longer and then going down it was a lot worse. This hike should have taken about 11 hours but because she was so sick it took us 18 hours. She was so sick we had to take her to the emergency room when we got down. She was throwing up and could not hold anything down. The next day she was doing much better. We started on the trail head at 2:30am and got down at 8:30pm. That day I was up 24 hours straight so I have been trying to recover. I loved it though and would love to do it again sometime.

lost phone/ phone was stolen

2008-08-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

I don't have a phone right now so if you need to get a hold of me the best way is email. Hopefully I will be getting a new one soon but I will not have any phone numbers. I have a back up of numbers in LA but that does not help me at the moment. So just email

Rain

2008-07-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

It has now started to rain every afternoon. That is just how it gets in July and August. Nice in the morning and late afternoon but right about 1 it starts to rain. I really love the rain! I seem to live places where it does not rain much so it is nice to have this change. (Not so nice when you are on the top of a mountain above tree line but you can not have it all.) I have not done a lot of hiking lately but hope to do a little more before I leave.

My life white water rafting

2008-07-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

Sunshine Falls on the Royal Gorge

Last week I went white water rafting with some of my staff team down the Royal Gorge. The whole time I could not stop thinking about what a metaphor rafting is and how it relates to my Christian walk. Maybe it was all the Christian youth group rafting trips I went on growing up rushing back to me.

Tonight I had a video conferences with the USC group here in Colorado and some of our canvas group in LA. During the time Greg asked us to describe our life using a metaphor. Again I thought of rafting. One big thing that I thought of was how we all have to work together or we can flip the raft, also if we do not work together sometimes we can miss the big rapids on the river (the best part). We have a guide and how important it is to listen to Him especial when going through the hardest spots. The metaphor can go on and on but that is what struck me the most.

PS the picture is not my raft but was taken on part of the river we went down. The waters was a record high this year. Highest it has been in more then ten years. :)

Grace

2008-07-24T22:56:00.000-07:00

Grace.....I have learned so much about grace this summer. Where I have not been giving myself grace, where I have not been giving others grace, and then how God is giving me the most amazing grace and wanting me to share that with others. It has been changing me...

This week an amazing women named Eva came to speak at LT, her story was the greatest picture of God's grace. At the end of the first night Britney a girl I had been praying for with with another friend said she wanted to accept Christ into her life. A couple of students got to pray with her. It was fun talking with her today and seeing how excited she is. Please keep Britney in your prays, she leaves to go back home August 2nd and I don't know what kind of support she has there. Please pray the Lord would continue to work in the little time left here.

Trust

2008-07-17T11:38:00.000-07:00

TRUST
This can be a very hard word. What does it really mean to trust God? To trust others? Sometimes we say we are doing that but our actions or heart act differently. Yesterday we were talking about trust in the small group I am coaching. We looked at different people in the Bible and examined their life. Looking at how David, Peter, Job and others trusted God. Looking at their lives and how they trusted God is very challenging. I say I trust God but then I do the " I know this is true but....." thing. Job did the same thing yet with everything he went through he still had hope in our loving and powerful God. I want to have this same faith.

Family, camping, boulder, and the sound of music

2008-07-11T13:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my brother Lucas, his wife Angela, my sister Chrissy, and her baby Alexys came to visit. We had one night together and went camping. I love hanging with family and it really was a blessing to be with them.

Then on Wednesday I went to boulder with my project group and did some contact evangelism. It was a great day of learning. Boulder is a very interesting city with a mixture of tourist, locals, and homeless. It was good for people to go out with the intent of sharing Christ's love with people. But is was also a very emotional day for many reasons. One of the leaders in our group found out that morning that her step grandfather had committed suicide. I was able to spend a lot of the day with her, it is a very tragic time. Please keep Kayla and her family in your prayers.

Yesterday I went an a great hike with some friends. I will try to post more pictures later and share about the day. But to sum it up I felt like i was in the sound of music hiking through the mountains. It was pretty amazing.

international dinner and 4th of July

2008-07-04T15:09:00.001-07:00

We had an international dinner outreach this past week. It was pretty amazing seeing everyone come together to cook. It has been a great way to really get to know people here and build into them. I cooked Thai food with a two girls Rachel and Fai. Today Fai helped me cook something for my staff bbq and I was able to talk to her about her beliefs and faith and share mine. Please keep her in your prayers. I am going to hang out with her more tonight. The pictures above are from hiking, camping, outreach dinner, and the 4th of July parade today.

Victories in Him

2008-06-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

Last week was there were a lot of trial but as the faithful God we have He helped me grow throw them. And this week it has been amazing to see victories in Him! I have seen Him really do victories in the lives of some of the girls I am working with. Victories in my own life learning to trust Him more and learning more about graces. It goes on and on. I was also able to really enjoy the mountains last week. I started the week taking one of the girls I am mentoring on a 3.5 mile hike, then a couple of days later I went with two more girls I am mentoring on a 9 mile hike, and then I ended the week with a friend doing a 13 mile hike. The last hike was so beautiful! It was pretty easy up until the last 2 miles. The last two miles we were going through a lot of snow and then the last mile it was going vertically through snow (not so easy), but it was a lot of fun and a great challenge.

The Lord really has been blessing me with rest and victories in Him. Thank you for all your prayers.

Needing God to fill me

2008-06-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

This has been a very draining week. I felt like God placed me here but it was a very hard week. A lot, a lot of counseling, late night talks, and tough situations. God is doing so much lives of the students here. Please pray God would reveal the lies they are believing and show them His truth. They would take the time to rest and spend time with God. They would see where He is working and seek His will for their lives. With all the things going on here it is a battle to do those things.
So many other things have happen this week, one student fell 15feet when hiking and was hurt pretty badly but the Lord was so strongly present and he is recovering well. Another student was fired from the Y but God is working in his life. The directors of the LT program here where able to get him into another LT program in South Carolina. Please pray God would take a hold of his life these next few weeks.
Please keep me in prayer that I would not draw in my own strength but Gods strength. That He would give me wisdom when counseling and mentoring. He would speak through me.

The summer is going so fast!

2008-06-18T21:21:00.000-07:00

We had 4 Birthday's in one week in our project group. Grant, Jessica, Stephanie, and Nick
Our group helping out serving a sister church in Fort Collins

Sisters

The verse Annna picked is so good Galatians 6:17 "Let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus"

The last two weeks have been so busy! I am looking back and I am not sure where the weeks have gone. sorry I have not posted anything in a while. Adding mentoring to my schedule has really taken up a lot of my time. I also went to Denver one day to visit my brother Cisco and sister in law Jen. So life has seemed crazier then normal, but I am having a lot of fun and it has started to warm up which is so nice (makes it more enjoyable to hike and spend time outside). I am ready for the snow to stop, it rained today but it still seemed warm. I went with Annna my sister to go get a tattoo last week too. Jessica came with us and she repierced her eyebrow. I also pierced my nose but no one has really noticed not even my brother he just thought I already had it. Kind of funny really everyone I have talked to has said it just looks so natural they thought I already had it. So I guess that is a good thing. It is very little too.

Trying to get a routine down

2008-06-13T14:59:00.000-07:00

I think i am finally getting a routine down. It has taken a while but things are starting to flow a little better. My days off are on Mondays and I have been spending part of the time with friends hiking. It has been a very good rest for me.

Wednesday we had a great project group even with the snow and wind. We celebrated 4 birthdays in our group this week so we had some fun with that.

Here are some pictures from my last hike. Some of the pictures I took but some are from a friend that borrowed my camera. Click on the picture below to see more.

Bridal Veil Falls

Snow again!

2008-06-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

It snowed on and off but mostly on ALL day today! What is going on? It feels more like winter then summer.

Bluegrass Music

2008-06-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to the Rock Inn Mountain Tavern for Bluegrass Music. It was..... well lets just say I felt like I was in a movie. We went for dinner and one on the appetizers they had was Devil's on Horseback (roasted garlic stuffed, bacon wrapped dates served with homemade garlic aioli), they also had some great buffalo burgers (real buffalo). Dinner was great and then the real fun started. Right were we had been sitting turned into a dance floor. The back ground to the bluegrass band "Glentucky Funkdownw" was tie dye sheets, a big flag, and a large moose head hanging above. There was some great dancing going on with dogs running free all around inside (labs and other big dogs) and a bomb fire outside. Everyone seemed to have 40s even the band's music stands had 40s in them. It was so different and far from anything in LA. It really was a fun night. I am not sure my description did it justice but you will have to just use your imagination.

On a very different note this verse really spoke to me this week. Psalm 25:1-5 "To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul; in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse. Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."

I was thinking about the shame that I sometimes hold onto and all the things in my life that are "enemies". It was really powerful to give those to God and to seek Him to guide me.

Snow

2008-06-05T10:12:00.000-07:00

ok so it is not a lot of snow but it is snow
It is snowing today! I went for a run this morning and the very wet snow has now made me so cold it is hard to type.

The last couple of days I have been having amazing God conversations with students. It is so great to be in this spot (even with the snow/rain).

First real hike

2008-06-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

I went up Estes Cone with a group of staffer today for my day off. We had planned on going up a different mountain but because one of the guys that we were going with had just done that one we changed our plans a little. It was a lot of fun, relaxing, challenging, but refreshing. It was the first real hike I have been on this year 6.1 miles. It was such a beautiful day too. For the first week it was pretty cold up here but this week it has started to warm up. So that is it for my day off now I am just playing around on the computer which is pretty nice too!

walk and talk with God

2008-06-01T16:13:00.000-07:00

Friday I had a wonderful walk and talk with God. The pictures are from that time. (I am also practicing with the settings on my camera.) I think getting out in nature alone is what I am loving about being up here. In LA I can not just walk out my door and do that. LA the sights, sounds, and smells are very different. Funny there has was a helicopter around here and the break in the peace it made was drastic. Yet in LA that is just one of the many sounds you hear all the time. Yet I love LA and will be happy to go back. Yesterday was a very busy day with work for the Y, staff meeting, meeting with different people, and the Rock service. I think it all hit me today and I am just trying to recover. Tomorrow is my day off though and I am going on my first big hike twin sisters (7.5 miles). It should not be to hard and will help get me ready for some bigger ones. :) I can not wait!

1st project day

2008-05-30T09:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great first project day. I really feel blessed by the people God has placed in this project. Project group is kind of like a canvas group or small group. We did a lot of get to know you things in the morning and looking at goals and visions. Then we spent some amazing time in prayer. In the afternoon we worked on scraping paint off of the putt putt golf course. It was a great day! That night we took a large group (little to large) to Old Man Mountain (a cave like experience). I had forgotten how tight some of the cave was. It was a fun day though and I am looking forward to more great days like it.

Day Off

2008-05-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

The first picture is the first day I was here and the second picture is today.

Today is my day off. I know crazy I get to be in this beautiful place and have a day off too! I planned to spend some time hiking but well it has been just so much more inviting to stay inside by the fire. So that has been where I have been most of the day. It still has been very nice. Kind of feels like winter. The first day I was up here shorts and a t-shirt where great but now I am all about warmth and layers.

And it all starts

2008-05-22T19:15:00.001-07:00

To day was an amazing day. I was in staff meetings all day but it was so exciting to hear the hearts of the other staff and to catch a vision for this summer. It did not feel like we were in meetings the whole day. Well we did take a break from the meetings in the afternoon and did a little rope course. It was a lot of fun and brings something great out in people. You really get to know people in a different way. I feel very connected with people here and I feel like I have a lot in common with a lot of the other staff, to be a part of helping students grow in there relationship with God and life changing experiences the Lord has for them and rest. In a way it was encouraging to hear others needing the rest too. I felt a little selfish about that but I don't feel alone in it anymore and i feel at peace about wanting that and needing it. The students show up tomorrow! I am so excited for that, not sure what the Lord has planned but one thing i know it is going to be better then i could ever imagine.

The start of a new adventure

2008-05-21T14:56:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles

Estes Park

Well I finally made it. It is a little crazy to be here again. It was kind of a crazy trip getting here but wow it is amazing. I spent my morning by a river and then went hiking in the afternoon. I think it is going to be easy to get uses to this. The next couple of day will be busier as we do orientation and the students start showing up but I am looking forward to that too.