Snow much?

This week the weather has been CRAZY! Bellingham must have gotten 10 inches or more of snow. The whole of Western Washington has had 3 snow storms in 1 week. What's up with that?!

Dash and I had a beautiful drive down to Seattle before the 3rd storm hit. The evergreens were fantastical. Dash's comment was that you couldn't imitate beauty like what we saw. I was going to read on the drive down, but I couldn't bring myself to tear my eyes away from the view. We put Straight No Chaser's Christmas album-- an amazing accapella group-- and listened and talked and sang along with the carols. It was gorgeous.

As I write this, snow is still falling outside. The last I heard it's supposed to last until tomorrow morning. I sure hope I can make it to Reno for Christmas on Monday.

*The two following pictures were taken on my phone in the car. They don't fully describe what I saw, but they sure captured a moment of admiring the beauty.

Gratitude Sets Us Apart...

Here's the promised link to dad's message from last Sunday, November 30, 2008.

http://thebridgereno.com/media/msg113008.mp3

I'm also posting a link to his message notes. I enjoy that he does notes with every message; it's very helpful.

http://thebridgereno.com/docs/fg_lastweek.pdf

Stuff

Thanksgiving has come and gone.

I'm back in Bellingham after spending time in Reno with the family. It was good to see everyone; just wasn't long enough. I'm excited to go back for Christmas with the folks. It'll be really good to have some time with them and see Reno. I look forward to seeing Tahoe in all its wintry glory.

There are less than 2 weeks left in this quarter. Thank God! I'm so ready to be done with it. What an exhausting, hellish quarter it's been. Tomorrow is my fourth -and final!- presentation in Abnormal Pysch. If you ask me, 4 presentations in a quarter simply is way too much, especially when you're working with a group.

My final presentation is on Autism. It's good to be reminded of what it is that I want to do with my life. Why I'm doing this... don't we all need that every now and again? Sometimes I feel like I just go and go and go, and so often I end up losing perspective. I'm so thankful that it's Christmas time. I just need to be reminded of so many things right now. And the love of Christ is one of them. I need to think about and reflect upon how and why Christ came. How much it drips with hope for me and you, too. I decided to celebrate Advent this year. For the life of me, I can't find the right candles ANYWHERE!!!! But I decided that the point of Advent wasn't the candles; it's the act, the heart behind the matter. To set aside a few minutes a couple of times a week before Christmas to reflect. It's not my perfect Advent celebration, but the decorations and the beauty of those things aren't it. If that's my focus, I've missed it. Jesus came as a baby in the most simple of situations born to a man and a woman not more than 18 or 20. Young by today's standards. Too young, in fact. But God chose them to deliver his promise to his people. Why? They had nothing; no home to go to; little to clothe the Christ child with. But they managed. Actually, they did more than just managed. They lived. From their meager provisions, the means of living was formed. Christ came to give us life. He came from nothing. Perhaps to show us that having everything doesn't bring us life. If the point of our lives was STUFF, wouldn't Christ have been born into royalty? If the quality of our lives revolved around our stuff, Mary and Joseph wouldn't have been God's vessels. Maybe Harod would've been.

I think what's so important about the message that stuff isn't the means to life isn't that we shouldn't have stuff, but we should be happy with whatever we have. Weird how my thoughts have come full circle to think through what my dad spoke about on Sunday. (I'll be posting the link to dad's message later on week, for those of you who are interested)

I think I lived a long time not appreciating the stuff I had. Maybe I still do.

I would just like to say that I find this moment hilarious. Dash and I are both sitting working individually on our laptops. Oh goodness. Such are the times.

Things I need to remember daily...

I found this in my wallet today- or rather Dash did- and it was a good reminder of some things I wrote down after reading The Journey of Desire by John Eldredge. I wrote it on August 12, 2007.

- Hope exists- it's no myth- it's REAL
- The night ends- Day comes
- One day life will be more than just surviving
- I can't do it all on my own
- Surrender is possible- I can let go of my need to control
- To be like the butterflies
- Perfection is not an option, therefore, I should not search and attempt to attain it in any situation
- God's hand will me through- He is the ultimate guide and provider- He knows the trails inside and out, and I should stop thinking I know it all and trust in his direction
- Curve balls often bring the best kind of life
- Above all, things will be okay
- I can trust my heart, for in it God dwells, and my heart is often the means by which he speaks to me
- Feelings are real- they may not last forever, but I need to remember to search the feelings I have- they may unlock something I need to realize in a particular moment
- God will give me someone I can do life with
- Laughter is the best kind of medicine
- Breathing is always a good idea
- Enjoyment is a attainable- find pleasure in little things- coffee, a song, a friend, story, etc.
-Life should only be taken as seriously as is necessary- NO MORE NO LESS

It's interesting how some of the things we write never really go "out of style." They're just as real, if not more now, than when we first wrote them.

Long Day...

I think today was the first day "off" I've had in almost 2 weeks. It was nice. I actually got to sleep for 12 hours last night. It was glorious to catch up on some sleep. I went for a walk around Lake Padden with the "boys" and Aleja, and yes, Rainer and Kaelen decided to jump in the lake after Dash bet them a dollar; although, I'm pretty sure they would've done it regardless since they each had their suits on. I'm finally at a good point on my Psych paper due next week.

The gross part of living in Washington has finally arrived...the constant rain and just disgustingness. The kind of weather that does nothing for your hair. It gets dark too early. And yet somehow I find myself still loving this place. Does that make me weird?

I'd like to say something profound and lovely, but I find that I am at a loss. I think I need to write when I'm actually firing on all cylinders. But that rarely seems to happen these days.

I have more pictures I'll post soon.

Can I just say...

that I will be SO glad when this election is over? It's been going on for what feels like forever! I'm tired of the commercials and the bashing. When did it become okay to bash and bash the way politicians do?

Oh the Pacific Northwest. God bless us all. I think we just may need it.

Blogging...

I've been reading the blogs of some of my cousins and other friends for some time now. I think my cousin Sarah has the best idea for blogging. She uses it as a tool for herself and others-- journaling for herself and keeping friends and family up-to-date on her life. I haven't been doing a very good job of journaling lately. It's frustrating. I'd like to, but things have been so crazy lately that sitting down and writing out some thoughts just makes me exponentially more tired. I'd like to remember this period in my life. I mean really remember it. I'm at such an exciting, scary, you fill in the blank juncture in my life that not writing about it seems wrong.

I am beginning my 3rd month of living in Washington. I'm 9 months away from reaching my goal: residency. My boyfriend's dad thinks the hoops I have to jump through are insane, and he tells me this frequently when I see him. "Are you a resident yet," he'll ask me. And each time I look at him with what I hope is an exasperated look and say, "Not yet. Next September." But the more I think about things--even as I write them-- the more I realize that my goal isn't just residency. I want to create a life here. Can you really place a timeline on creating a life? For so many years now, I haven't been able to choose the path that I want to take. I get to choose that now. It's scary and awful and wonderful all at the same time. There are so many ways that I could go. I think back to Junior year in High School and Robert Frost's poem "The Road Not Taken."

A while ago, I wrote reasons for breaking out on my own...they are now posted on the back of my door. I look at them often and hope that they will bring me strength. And they do. Sometimes it takes time, though. But I'm finding that every time I have a difficult time taking the next steps in my world, there's someone there to catch me or to help me find it within myself to take that next step. I may not have everything right now, but what I do have, I have much of--love, friends, family, strength, support, laughter, fight. Maybe the intangible things really are that much more important in this life.

I think it's apt to end this blog with two pictures and Frost's poem.

THE ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

The first is of Dash and I. The second is of my parents and I- taken about 6 months ago.