ahh, yes.

Every once in a very long while, I straighten my hair. Yesterday I took about 2 hours and straightened it. It was fun! I think some people prefer it curly, but straight is cool, too! Don't worry, it will be back to normal on Thursday...then maybe I'll straighten it again next summer. ;)

My emo pic, looking like Violet from "The Incredibles"

The end result...

On the little porch

UCLA...with my boyfriend. :)

I think I have been posting too much...

But I just found out that the California State Budget was passed on Tuesday!
Did you all notice that I finally decided to try out the link function instead of pasting the web address directly into my post? I should have tried it sooner...

I know...

where I'm going over Thanksgiving break! And if that doesn't work, I'm definitely going over Christmas break!!!

Irritation

Good news and bad news.
Bad news first: I am not getting as much financial aid this year as I was originally told. I lost $1,600.00 without doing anything. I figured it was too good to be true. I have 3 scholarships. One scholarship is given by the state and is currently being held hostage by the budget crisis (another irritation). This scholarship can only be used for X expenses. A second scholarship is given by the school and can only be used for Y expenses. The third scholarship is given by an outside organization and can be used for anything. The 3 scholarships totaled more money than the cost of the credential program. This is good, right??? Well, it was. It turns out that my state and school scholarships are more than the cost of the program, so 1 of them was reduced so that I am not getting the extra money from those 2 scholarships.
Good news: I am still getting the outside scholarship! Yes, thank You for that! Another good thing: Over the summer and near the beginning of the semester, I thought about working part-time to supplement the scholarship money I would be getting (plus I thought I would be bored if I only had schoolwork to do). This extra money, at the end of the credential program, would be used to go overseas next summer or to pay off my one, small loan. Well, it turns out that I will need this extra money. I am thankful that God set it up for Michelle Rivas to ask if I tutored English, and that I said yes and that I got a well paying job (few hours + experience with secondary kids + great pay = awesome).
Plus, my mom reminded me that God will provide for me, as He always has. This is just another example, knowing that this would happen. Knowing that this money would be necessary. Knowing that I would be working with a non-Christian family. Allowing me to tutor Evan through the differences between Protestantism and Catholicism in his AP homework (though who knows if he learned anything; at least he heard it).
And a reminder from Amos via his blog that we don't really need anything; God cares for us.

Blessed be the LORD,
Because He has heard the voice of my supplications!
The LORD is my strength and my shield;
My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;
Therefore my heart greatly rejoices,
And with my song I will praise Him.
The LORD is their strength,
And He is the saving refuge of His anointed.
Save Your people,
And bless Your inheritance;
Shepherd them also,
And bear them up forever.
-Psalm 28:6-9 NKJV

It's been...

an interesting 10 days. A really great guy moved from being my friend to being my boyfriend, and I found out about a bunch of people who read my blog. So hi to all of you who are secretly reading this! I hope you enjoy it! ;)

Hi

Mrs. Ralston...I hear we have the same birthday. ;)

Anybody...

have an extra ticket to Israel??? I wanna GOoooooooooo!!!

Those he left behind...

If you are reading this, please cry out to God on behalf of the ones that Ricky left behind. I am doing fine, but please pray for his close friends and his family members, both in California and Colorado. It is still hitting home that I will never see Ricky again this side of eternity.

Please pray for a gradual, gentle recovery for his friends and family.

Psalm 27
A Psalm of David. 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked came against me To eat up my flesh, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell. 3 Though an army may encamp against me, My heart shall not fear; Though war may rise against me, In this I will be confident. 4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD All the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD, And to inquire in His temple. 5 For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock. 6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me; Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the LORD. 7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice! Have mercy also upon me, and answer me. 8 When You said, “Seek My face,” My heart said to You, “Your face, LORD, I will seek.” 9 Do not hide Your face from me; Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me, Then the LORD will take care of me. 11 Teach me Your way, O LORD, And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies. 12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries; For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. 13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed That I would see the goodness of the LORD In the land of the living. 14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

biblegateway.com NKJV

"I didn't think it was going to hit me this way..."

My friend died today. Ricky was about 20 years old. He was a crazy kid with green eyes and buzzed hair. I met him last summer at Wolf Mountain and stayed in contact with him off and on for a few months after that. We were not really close friends, but he was still a friend of mine. He went off to Colorado, and I hoped that when he came back to California to visit, I could at least say hi to him again in person.
But God has taken him home. Lord, give Ricky a hug from me and tell him that I'll miss him. And hug his family, too, 'cuz they are hurting more than I am.

Ricky with 2 campers at Bowman...

You guessed it...

More pics of Bowman!! I love Bowman! It is my absolute favorite place to go hiking in NorCal. Irene and I went about a month ago when I went home before the credential program started. I love it because 1) it is beautiful, 2) not many people go up there, 3) I love hiking, 4) there are really cool things to see if you know where to go, and 5) it is NorCal!!

Weaver Falls...it goes down even further to another pool! See the next picture...

So the guy taking the picture wasn't the greatest photographer, but that's okay.

Irene said this pic looks like someone killed me and stuffed me in the bushes...Haha! Actually, it is a little cave. You can go in about 1/8 of a mile, and you find the plug to the lake above! It is really cool. Irene and I didn't go in this time because I had left my headlamp at the top of the hill, it was kinda creepy, and there is some really, really cold water that you have to walk through to get to the end. Soggy, cold athletic shoes didn't sound like fun...

Some ferns by the mouth of the cave

The rope to make sure you don't fall down the hill...

A scree-covered hill...don't fall! You'd crash and burn...

Soooo, I had cut my finger earlier in the week while cutting a cantaloupe. It was getting better so I took the bandaid off. Irene and I decided to climb up a hill rather than walking around the longer way. Said hill was covered with loose rocks. Irene climbed up ahead of me and dislodged a rock roughly the size of a baseball while I was still at the bottom of the hill trying to take a picture. I grabbed my camera and jumped out of the way, reopening my wound in the process. Irene said that if I had stayed where I was, the rock would have missed me, but only by a few inches. Thanks, friend...

Looking down on Weaver Falls

I think this Weaver Lake, but I'm not sure. There are so many little lakes out there!!

Best friends at Bowman!!!!

Poetry????!

I feel like writing a poem, which is really weird 'cuz if given the option, I will always choose any other genre than poetry! But if I were to write a poem, I would write about...

to just shut out the world with its bad and good things. to not have to deal with friends who accidentally hurt your feelings. to not deal with misunderstandings and such. to not have to do homework on something that is important but that you really don't care about at the moment. to be in another country, on a different continent.

While those things might be true, it is not my place to withdraw and curl up. It is my job to fight and to forget and to do the things I am called to do and to be the person I am called to be. Bleah.