Just Sit

So I haven't blogged in two weeks because I have been on the road! I'm writing now from the Missions Conference in Austria and I just thought I'd post quickly before bed!

This is my 6th time at this conference in the last 8 years and every time God is just here! I don't realize how much I need this until I'm actually here. Of course I get fed and worship and fellowship at home in Cork, but I'm also working. I'm making sure that the tea and coffee it set out, that the church is clean, that Eoin is ok, that the tithe gets counted and a dozen other things. But here, here I have no responsibility but to be a the feet of Jesus. And it just hit me tonight at the evening session.

I just felt God just saying, "sit, sit at my feet"; so I sat during worship. Then He said, "no, sit at my feet" and I just knelt on the floor as tears of relief streamed down my cheeks.

Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and I'm not too busy, but it's just rare to get a chance to truly set aside all cares and duties and just sit.

So please as you read this this week, just pray for me. Pray that God would speak to me and just take me under His wing.

There is wifi here so I'll try to post again if I can!

And thank you to all those who have been praying for my feet! I was really worried for this trip, with lots of walking and traveling but they are doing great! I still have to be careful and not overdo it but I was expecting to be in pain and they are only sore instead of that stabbing pain! Praise God!

3 Week Tour!

Hi Everyone! I'm writing this as I'm packing for my 3 week European trip! I leave tomorrow for Sweden where I will be first in Stockholm for a conference and then go to Gothenburg to visit family. There are two awesome things about this trip, first the Neglia's are coming!, and second my parents will be there! I'm so happy to get to spend some quality time with both!

Then from Sweden I will go to Germany, to Siegen to meet up with the group that is driving to Austria for the Calvary Missions Conference! I 'll be in Austria for a week then back to Siegen for 4 days to hang out with friends! Then back to ireland!

This will be an amazing trip to say the least! I'm so looking forward to it!

Some prayer request while I'm traveling!:

Safety and Sanity!

Money for extra expenses

Blesses family and friend time

and most of all that I would return to Ireland refreshed and blessed by God!

Thank you! and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!

Job? What Job?

So I mentioned in my "I'm back" post that I had got and job and then subusquiently quit that job. Let me explain,

Since I am a EU citizin I can live and work in Europe visa free! What a wonderful blessing and opportunity. Being a "making ends meet" missionary the idead of finding a job had a alsways been on my mind. I would go around and apply every few months. I working in a friends waffle shop for a few months in spring 2010 until they had to close down. The Economy.

Then I'd try and find another job but it was hard as I would be gone for a month in the summer and for a month over Christmas. No one hired me. After I came back from Cali I asked around at a few shops but didn't hand in any CVs (resumes). Then I looked at my responsiblilities for church, the Neglias and counseling; and decided that a job mght not be practical. I prayed and asked God to provide just through support and gave up the job search. This was March.

Not two days (!) later did I

get a call from a friends mother. She was opening a cafe and wanted me to come work. I had actually spoken to her way back in September of 2010 when I was still searching for a job, I told her when you open, I'd love to come work for you. Well I hadn't heard from her so I definitely was not expecting a call 6 months later!

I felt a bit obligated but also the idea of working in a cafe a few days a week didn't sound too bad!

So I started in mid March and it was fun at first.

She had never worked in a cafe before let alone started one so I was hired for my expertise and advice. The place need a lot of work, not major things but just working out a good flow of productivity, honing our menu and recipes, organizing the stock etc. I told myself I couldn't get too involved. I was currently in the 4 bible study, sunday school lesson writing, Eoin tutoring, and various church responsibilities stage of my life and couldn't take on setting up a cafe. But I still cared a lot. Coffee is one of the things I'm passionate about and especially in cafe where customers and money are involved I want to present the best possible product, cleanest environment, and all around good atmosphere.

So basically I couldn't let things just go. The problem was that all my my suggestions were dismissed or ignored. I could go on and on but it was just very frustrating to be hired to make a difference and then be unable to do so.

It was getting so stressful that it was affecting my attitude and my body. I started eating a lot of comfort food and was sore and achy. I even twice in the morning would be so stressed out getting ready for work that I actually threw up my breakfast. (those who know me know that I'm not that kind of person, this was serious) My attitude was very bad too. This is when I got in to arguments with my housemates, with whom I had live a year and a half tiff free!

Well lets wrap this up, I talked with the boss lady and was basically attacked for my ideas and grievances. I decided then that I was going to quit. She was going on holiday though for two weeks and would need her employees to work more more shifts, or would have to be closed half the day. My mother often tells me I'm loyal to a fault, so true to nature I told her I would work until she came back. Those two weeks were great! I organized, worked, cleaned without opposition. She came back and I was done and that was that.

What made this whole thing just awkward is that she is the mother of a friend and fellow Christian. I hate, even painting a possible negative picture of her because she is a lovely lady, I love chatting with her, she is terribly interesting. But that doesn't not make her a good business woman. And that was the disconnect I had to make in my head. That cafe closed down just a few weeks after I left and she moved to Scotland.

A strange experience to be sure. I think I shall not work for friends anymore but shall stick to established places of business.

Heal My Heels!

So in my list of events from the last months I failed to mention excruiating foot pain! How could I forget!?

In May I started noticing my feet were really sore in the morning. Then after walking around town for a day it started to feel like I was walking with a thick nail in each heel. Not so fun. I asked our prayer meeting group to pray for it and the next day the pain wasreduced! By the end of the day it was gone! Praise God! noticeable

Two days later the pain returned. I did a little WebMD research and though I have not seen a doctor I am pretty sure I have Plantar Fasciitis.

Planta- what-now!

Plantar fasciitis (say "PLAN-ter fash-ee-EYE-tus") is the most common cause of heel pain. The plantar fascia is the flat band of tissue (ligament) that connects your heel bone to your toes. It supports the arch of your foot. If you strain your plantar fascia, it gets weak, swollen, and irritated (inflamed). Then your heel or the bottom of your foot hurts when you stand or walk.

Delightful!

So I sent out a prayer request and started to take care of my feet.

Unfortunately that meant not walking, and i live in a city with no car, I walk everywhere! So I think I sat in my room for about 2 days. My feet felt better but again, after a just 30 min of walking there was the Pain again.

So I went to the drug store and took a look at shoe inserts. There was one with my name on it! It also had a 30 euro price tag! Well I got them and a foot massager. And tried to get lifts/rides when ever I could.

Thankfully with prayers and good care it's manageable. I also learned that it doesn't last forever. My aunt had it and now she it totally fine. So now my feet are managed by these rules (open to debate by other suggestions but this is what works for me!):

No flat shoes, at least a one inch heel to take the pressure off my heel

No going barefoot, not even at home if I can help it

Minimize walking, not more than 30 min at a time

Massage feet every night

Soak feet a few nights a week

Take ibuprofen daily

And Prayer!

So that is what I'm dealing with now! I'd greatly appreciate your prayers! Those two shoes pictured above are the only shoes I can really wear. And the tan ones gave me blisters on my toes (that is why my feet look so gross, sorry!)

I know it sounds silly but a girl can't wear one pair of shoes with every outfit! And the heels are wearing down cause I wear them every day! So pray for heeling (!) and pray I can find suitable shoes.

Back at Last!

I'm back! Forgive me readers! I can truly say that March, April, May and June have been the busiest months I've ever had in Ireland. To be completely honest there we some weeks I didn't know how I was going to do it all. I would even go days with out wearing any earrings! And for those that know me, that is a big deal! But now in July I can relax a bit more, catch up on some things and try and enjoy the Irish summer (which is 50/50 split between rain and sunshine)!

So I know I left this blog without finishing retelling my california adventures, but I'm going to skip a head to the now. I may cheat and do some post-dated entires just to finish my story! But to catch you all up here is a breakdown of my last 4 months!

• Getting a job at a cafe
• My dad coming to visit
• Counseling a women in church
• Teaching a single women's bible study
• Easter!
• An Irish Wedding!
• Rachel and Eoin go to California for 3 weeks
• Quitting my job at the cafe
• Redecorating my living room
• Throwing Rachel a western birthday party
• Tiffs with roommates
• New Sunday School curriculum
• Throwing a friends a going away party
• New washer and stove
• Bathing in the Irish sea!
• Going to Berlin for 4 days
• Eoin writing his first letters!
• And finally blogging again!

Whew! See, I have been busy! And all this with my usual bookkeeping, cleaning, sunday school, supply shopping, babysitting, sleeping, eating and living!

So thank you for being gracious. I've to hop in the shower now cause I'm going to work with Eoin in a bit! See you soon!

Getting things done

How did you not manage to blog at all last week?!?

How you ask? Well let's take a break from our California trip and get a news flash update!

Things have been quite busy! First up, I have a part time job! Oh the irony! Back in November, a mother of a friend of mine was in the process of opening up a cafe. She was planning to open in December and wanted me to work part time. As I was eager for a job then I agreed but said I would be gone for a month over the holidays. When I came back and was still thinking of working, she hadn't opened yet! She kept getting delays of every kind so I just gave up on it. Which suited my fine since I was becoming so busy. I decided to shelf the job search and just focus on ministry. God had blessed me with some individual supporters on my trip to California and I would be okay for money. Then I got the call, the cafe was opening. What timing! I tired to think of a way out but I had promised, she truly needed me, and I honestly missed making cappuccinos. So I started last week! It is a lot of fun but I am busier than ever now.

To top it off I also got sick last week (and still am at the moment). What started as the stomach flu has progressed into a good ol' fashioned cold. I really don't like being sick! It's hasn't been fun since I was a kid and being sick actually got you out of responsibilities and you had someone to wait on you hand and foot. Needless to say I miss my mom!

And thirdly my dad comes this Wednesday! I am so excited to spend time with him and show him the country, city, and people that I love so dearly. We re going to do a trip driving around the Ring of Kerry. A scenic trip around one of the western peninsulas. It should be amazing!

And there is a lot going on in the church too! We hare having a Seder on Wednesday night. It's a little early I know, but we are going through Deuteronomy and it fits in with the text this week so we're doing it now! We also have a men's breakfast, women's tea party and 3 day seminar in the next week.

So please pray for me! There is a lot to do, little time to do it, lots of distractions (good and bad) so please pray that I get everything done! It's my desire to spend and be spend for the Lord but I like to live to see 25! That's a little over dramatic but I'm sick so I'm a little whiny these days.

That is what's going on! I hope you are having a good, less busy week!

California # 4 - Missions Conference

So once again I'm afraid I have no pictures! I really should have thought this out, the whole Photo Reflection thing. But in any case let's get on with my trip to California before anymore time goes by!

After the Missions day at Santa Barbara, I headed south to Murrieta California for the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference. This year I particularly looking forward to it as I would be attending it as a full guest and not just for a day as in past years. Plus my dear friend Annie Johnson was coming down from Minnesota to the conference!

Now Annie and I met in Germany, oh so many years ago. I can't remember exactly when but it must have been in 2005-06 because I wasn't living in Siegen anymore. Right away, we knew (I did at least) that we were kindred spirits but we never seemed to have enough time to become great friends. With scattered and quick opportunities throughout the years we have become great friends. We would find ourselves in a same place for a day or two and make a point to hang out. She is wonderful! So I was really glad to get to spend a whole week with her at the conference.

The conference runs from Monday to Thursday with loads of speakers and workshops. It was such a blessed time. Not only to hear great teaching, but to see people who I hadn't seen in years! I kept bumping into people! The most amazing was problem my roommate from my time in Mallorca Spain, who now lives in Arizona, but came to the conference! Or wait, a girl from my first semester in Germany who now lives in Texas was there! Crazy!

Each day was filled with amazing meals, meeting new people, seeing old friends, making new connections, inspiring and enlightening messages, amazing weather, and the presence of God.

One things sticks out the most to me that is from one meal, either a breakfast or a lunch, Annie and I sat at a table with 6 girls all under 11. I have a real heart for kids growing up in ministry as I was a pastor's kid from the womb! I asked them what they liked about being a missionary kid and this is what they said:

Katie (10) - Helping people

Trinity (8) - Helping poor kids

Rachel (7) - She likes Sunday School and Church time

Lindsey (11) - Building houses for poor people

Savannah (10) - Helping others and telling people about the Gospel

I about cried! It was so encouraging to see these young girls loving the fact that they get to share in the work of God where their parents serve.

Another missionary daughter, shared with me her song journal where she wrote a chorus for a Psalm. She hadn't shown it to anyone yet! It was the sweetest song I have ever heard! Her heart of praise to God at 10 years old!

The whole week was like this, just wonderful stories and testimonies.

I must confess I did skip a few sessions to relax or nap! But it's supposed to be a relaxing time!

Then I dropped Annie off to catch a train in Oceanside and drove further south to San Diego to meet up with my dear friend. But that will wait for next time and I promise I have pictures of that!

Reflections of Cali # 3 Video Link Edition

So where were we....

Oh yeah Christmas!

So after Christmas I was just visiting friends, going to the prayer meeting in Santa Maria, I went to midweek study in Thousand Oaks; did some shopping and eating frozen yogurt. I was also preparing for Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara's mission Sunday on the 2nd.

But first New Years!

Unlike most people I know, I actually really like New Year's. I find it very anthropologicly (word?) interesting. Here is mankind, who has created a system of tracking time and when the allotted "year" is over mankind celebrates the passing of time and the future all at once. But I have yet to have an amazing New Years. :(

One year I did go to San Francisco, but I had to work the next day which meant I had to get up at 6 am to drive back down to Santa Barbara. Bleh! Then my first New Years in Ireland was fun, but I was with a bunch of people who aren't really so excited about "New Years" so it was more of a holiday party. Fun but not what I was hoping for.

So this time I decided to make New Year's great! Anyone who has known me from my early adult years know I love 80s music. I just can't get enough! ;-)

So there is a place in Hollywood that always has a big 80s New Year's bash. This was what I wanted. I convinced my good friend Bri to join me, even though she said she is not so much into dancing. This just shows you what a great friend she is! SO Bri was on board! Then my brother Nathan lives in LA! A place to say! No one wants to drive 2 hours back to Santa Barbara after dancing all night! Plus how fun to celebrate New Year's with my bro!

So Bri and I drove to LA, to Nathan's house. Then spent a good 2 hours getting all done up with Nathan's girlfriend Cera. I am such a girl because I love the "getting ready" part of an evening our. We teased our hair, adorned loads of jewelry and tried on many variations on the same outfit! Nathan was a dear and went and got pizza for us!

We took to metro to Hollywood Blvd and made it to the club with 5 minutes to spare for the discount early door fee. And then we danced the night away! It was so much fun! We cheered the count down, danced some more and then took the metro home! A good night! A great New Years!

Bri had to work in Santa Maria in the evening so we left LA at about 11. I went home and took a nap! Then went straight to work on my presentation for Mission's Sunday.

I was given the great opportunity to get up before the church and share about what I'm doing in Ireland. Santa Barbara, supports so many great missionaries and many were there so I knew it was a big deal that I got the slot. Unashamedly I know the pendulum swung my way because of my father but as a missionary, any opportunity to get your face out there is appreciated. My dad told me in the days leading up to it, "Aan-Sofie it's got to be good."

"I know dad, I'm working on it."

"No, it's REALLY important that you do really well on Sunday."

"Oh... okay...."

Not that I was going to do a lazy job but I sudden'y realized the gravity of the situation. David Guzik had given a speaking slot to his daughter. If I bombed, it would reflect poorly not only on myself but on my father's judgement and decisions. So I went over and over my text. Saturday afternoon I did a dry run in front of my parents. They said it was great. My dad gave me the nod of approval and I continued to work on my videos and table decorations.

Sunday came, I wore my new dress, curl my hair and read furiously over my notes. I was so anxious as I walked up the steps to the podium. I had decided to have a slideshow of Eoin and me playing while I spoke. Partly to just show people what I do, but also so that they would look at the video and not me! It worked! I was nervous but as I spoke I was more confident. When you are sharing something that you are so passionate and invested in, it is easy to speak. So I was done, my dad gave me a hug and I walked back down, took my seat and breathed!

I had to do it once more for the second service but I was much more confident then.

In between services and after the last one I manned my table in the lobby. I had "lucky" Irish pennies to give out, prayer cards and smiles! I got to speak to many people who had special needs kids or work with them and they were touched by what I do. Since many americans have Irish roots I met several who were glad to hear what God is doing in Ireland.

All around I'd have to say the day was amazing! God blessed me so much, my hard work paid off, and the church was encouraged to hear my story!

You can see my presentation at the link below. It's the whole service. First another missionary speaks, then my dad, then me about 33 minutes in:

http://www.calvarychapelsb.com/videos.php?q=view&id=733

Next up Missions Conference! (but that's for the next post!)

Photo Reflections of Cali #2 (minus the photos)

So I don't have any pictures of Christmas since my mom took them all! I wasn't able to get them off her camera because she lost it at Magic Mountain (they found it and sent it to us praise God!) so for a week when I could have downloaded the pics the camera was mia.

But... Christmas! It was a 3 days event! Our family traditionally does everything on Christmas Eve but Calvary Santa Barbara was putting on a huge production, actually 2! A christmas play and then my dad did a message. Plus it was at a real theater downtown! So Christmas Eve my family, myself and Nathan's girlfriend Cera opened presents, had an early dinner, then got ready for the event. We had to get a bit dressed up so Cera and I spent some fun girl time in the bathroom curling our hair and putting on makeup. Then when we got to the theater we were shown our seats and we were sitting in those raised box alcove seats! I've never sat in the box before! I felt like character in a Austen novel, although usually the rich characters were not the nicest so never mind. The play was amazing and dad's message was great. But as there were two performances my brother, Cera and I hoped in the car and went home to have some dessert. Then Cera had to go to her mom's house and Jonathan and I watched tv. Mom and dad came home, then Nathan and we probable ate some more then we went to bed.

Christmas day just so happens to be Nathan's birthday! Another tradition in our family is breakfast in bed on your birthday. Since the emptying of the Guzik nest there hasn't been a birthday breakfast in bed in I don't know how many years. So it was really special to be able to all be together for this. What you do is walking into the birthday-ee's room carrying a tray of their requested breakfast foods and everyone sings "Happy Birthday". Then you watch them eat, take pictures of their "just woken up" sate and hand them gifts in between bits of lucky charms and french toast. It is loads of fun! Then we kinda just chilled the rest of the day. Nathan went to spend some of the day with Cera's family.

In the evening Jonathan and I went to our uncle's house in Ventura where the Guzik clan was gathering for the sake of the cousins to see each other. Hannah now lives in Oregon, Sam in Washington, Josiah goes to school in San Diego, I'm in Ireland, Nathan in L.A., Jonathan had been in Germany, Melissa, Mark live in Carlsbad. So needless to ay we don't get together very often. My Aunt Carrie made food, we ate said food. Then we played games and watched old movies of us as kids! Oh, I forgot to mention, Nathan joined us! So were were all together!

Almost done! This was a three day event remember!

The day after Christmas there was church in the morning. That was fun because I ran into so many people that I remembered from my time in SB! We went home and then had a traditional Swedish Christmas Smorgasbord! Pickled herring, hard boiled eggs, crisp bread, meatballs, potatoes, pickles, smoked cheese. Amazing! We opened a few more gifts, ate more sweet things and then Nathan had to go home.

the best thing of all was being with my family. Merry Christmas!

Photo Reflection of Cali #1

I have to admit two of the things I was most looking forward to on my great big trip to California the past Christmas were 1. The Beach and 2. Driving.

True there is coast and beaches in Ireland but they are not the same. It is almost never hot or even sunny. You would never dream of getting in the water. When I lived in California I would make it to the beach a couple times a month. Even it just to sit and watch the waves. Being near the ocean make me feel closer to God somehow and being in California, especially Santa Barbara is just glorious.

So nice! And this was December!

Then there is DRVING! I actually don't drive in Ireland at all. Once I moved someone car back and forth while they were on vacation but that is it. I can drive, I can even drive manual cars so that's not the issue. But I'm actually terrified to drive in a right-side driver car. The pedals are the same but the shifting feels totally weird. I know all it would take is practice but since I can't afford to have a car here anyway, why bother! So I was very happy to come to California and drive! And not just get from A to B but to drive the short stretch between Ventura and Santa Barbara. I think it is the prettiest drive ever. I'm sure there are ones more lovely but not to me!

This is the view while you drive!

Combine it with some great music and nothing makes me more content!

Oh yeah! I'm driving!

So this is post one of my trip! I finally got my pictures sorted and I can't wait to start reminiscing!

Jet Laggin' with a Cape

So I'm still fighting the Jet Lag monster. It is nearly 1am and I'm not tired. I could start on a number of projects but I don't want to stay up to 4 am! So I thought I'd shoot out a quick post since I am on a roll for updating my blog!

Though I did a lot of shopping in California when I got back in Cork I still had the shopping bug. Ladies you know what I mean! A few days ago i trotted down to Penny's. Penny's is the best store ever for a missionary. It's a store filled with cheap clothes and accessories that you can also find great treasures in. I found a cape.

Not a super hero, bright red one. But a jersey, navy blue hooded one. And I have to saw it is my favorite new item of clothing! It is the comfy-est coat! Plus it has the added whimsy of being a cape! I think it may just help be get though the rest of the winter!

Anyway, don't want to go on and on about a cape cause that would be just too silly. I just am so excited to have a fun cosy new warming device that is cute to boot!

Hopefully I'll have some pictures of it soon!

Hello!

Greetings to all of you who may be checking my blog for the first time! I hope there are a lot over you since I just got back from a trip to California where I handed out over 200 prayer cards with this web address on it!

I am back in Cork, Ireland and I must admit I am still adjusting. Don't get me wrong I love being here but it is so cold! I mean cold! And I'm told it had actually warmed up the last few days! And then there is the time difference... 8 hours ahead of California time! My second night I didn't fall asleep until 6am! That would be 10pm CA time. I'm getting better but jet lag is not fun. Usually I'm able to will myself into submission to the time reality I am physically in but not this time!

I have many things to do:

Update email contacts

Missions Newsletter Update

Sort through photos

Meet with Pastor Mike

Call my parents

Go grocery shopping

I plan to get all this an more done this week! So to all you newbies, expect an email from me in the next week! And some more posts as I sort through the photos and events of my 5 week trip!

Thanks for reading!

Time well spent!

Well after 5 weeks in California I'm heading back to Ireland! All in all it has been a really good trip. Holidays with my family, missions conference, visiting friends, family and churches. All good stuff! But I am eager to get back to my life and work in Cork. So please pray that I make all my connections including my train from Dublin to Cork. And pray that I'm able to transition easily back into the time zone, the weather and work mode!

Thank you all for your faithful prayers!

Junk, Jury Duty and Explorations

So last week on Wednesday my father took me to their storage unit in Goleta. Among the mattresses and lawnmowers were the boxes I had packed up over 7 years ago when we were leaving for Germany. With the trepidation I prepared myself to see what my 16 year old self thought was important enough to save. Oh boy!

TO any of you 20 year olds, remember when in jr. high/high school it was cool to be way into children's toys? Yeah well I had a whole box of blue's clues, sesame street and disney stuff. oh my!

Then we come to the evidence of my hoarding: a box of saved gift bags. A WHOLE BOX! Not just gift back but store bags that I thought were cool. *shakes head*

Other than those chilling finds, the rest was a delightful walk down memory lane as I sifted though school projects, VHS tapes, childhood mementos and lots of books.

The following day, Thursday, I had Jury Duty. It was too late to try and get out of it. So I went! I had to go to Ventura since that is where I'm registered. My dad told me to bring plenty of reading materials. But when I got there they had free WiFi! So I sat for a couple hours. We could go outside so I sat in the sun and read. They would call us all in at times and read off names for Jury Selection. Around 10:30 my name was called! I went to the second floor and sat in the court room. They explained the basic details of the case (Criminal court: sexual battery and petty theft) and told us we would be interview by the judge, prosecutor and the defender. I must say as interesting as the whole process is there is nothing more mind numbing then Jury Selection. One by one, the 50 were going through this long process of elimination until it was 4:45pm. The judge announced that we would recess until the next day. I had to come back even though I might not be selected!

They opened the next morning by filling in the empty seat they ended yesterday with. When a jury was excused they select a random name to fill it. At 9:15am my named was called to fill that seat. After being interviewed by all three people, I stayed in my seat. I was to serve on the jury!

The trial started after the final jury selections were made and around 3:30 were went into deliberation. I learned many thing that day including that "sexual battery" is any touching of an intimate area with sexual intent. I really think they should change the name cause it was really hard to overcome the battery word when we were dealing with someone who had groped not beat someone. Of the whole process the deliberation was my favorite. 12 strangers discussing and deliberating the charges and the law! I wont go into the whole process, not because off court order but I just don't want to type that much! But I will say that I was a very vocal prat of the process. Eventually we found the guy guilty of sexual battery and not guilty of petty theft.

Then on Saturday my mom and I spent a day exploring Santa Barbara1 We sent to Monetcito, the Mesa, a bit of State Street. We ate lunch on the Mesa. Tri-tip blue cheese sandwiches! Yum! Bought some raspberries and ate them at the beach! Fun!

All in all a very exciting week!

What a Week!

Whew! I have had quite a week! Amazing but tiring! Thus today I slept till I woke!

Monday (3rd) my parents and I left for the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference in Murrieta. All I can say about it is totally blessed! I went for the whole conference experience, not just a day or two as in previous years. I stayed in the dorms, ate the meals, went in the hot springs! And though it all my dear friend Annie was with me! Annie and I met in Germany but I was visiting my family and she was working at the Bible College. We both new we'd be best friends if we could just be in the same city for any length of time! So we are kindred spirits from afar! Anytime we are together though it so blessed and we can just talk about anything.

So back to the conference, the speakers were amazing! The line up was a good mix of bible text teaching and ministry sharing. I got to see so many people! Some that I haven't seen in 5 years! And I made new friends! It is just blessed to hear and see what God is doing in so many lives.

The conference ended Thursday afternoon and I drove straight to Sand Diego to visit another dear friend, Robin and her husband Ryan. I only had a day and a half to be there it was so good to see another friends. This is part of getting older I guess, you have friends in random places and you visit when you can hoping to never fully lose touch.

So Robin and I went to Coronado, ate amazing pizza and had delicious frozen yogurt! Then it was back on the road early Saturday morning to meet my parents in Simi Valley to condense to 1 car and head to ... get ready for it ... Magic Mountain! We spent the day riding the most insane roller coasters! A ... MA ... ZING! Then off to Olive Garden for Dinner and Best Western for bed then Denny's for breakfast. bEst family weekend ever! Sunday we went to Reality LA for church then off to one of the biggest Thrift Stores I have ever seen. Then home! Where Annie was come for frozen yogurt, bed and a ride to the airport in the morning.

After taking Annie to the airport I popped down to New Port to visit another friend Dannah, then straight up to Santa Maria for a prayer meeting.

The End! Whew!

California #1

So this a welcome to those of you have have picked up my prayer card. Welcome! I have had this blog since being in Ireland but am sorry to say was not so great at up dates.

It's the typical self conscience blogger deal; "No one wants to hear about how I went to the grocery store." "Who reads this thing anyway" "No one cares".

But since being in California I have realized how loved and prayed for I am! You do care! So my New Year's resolution is to blog more. (I did make this last year, but lets be honest most resolutions take a few years to stick! ;)

So thank you to all of you who have been praying for me and who intent to pray for me in the future! I can truly attest to the blessings of God in my life over the last year and I know it is largely due to those who have been faithfully praying for me (shout out to Calvary Chapel Santa Maria Monday night missions prayer group!)

Right now I am siting in my dear friends house in San Diego after the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference in Murrieta. I will visit a bit then head back to Santa Barbara. I am really tired but it the good kind of tired. The tired that comes from talking to amazing people all week. Meeting new friend and re-connecting with old ones. So I'm going to keep this one short but expect more to come!