In other news...

-I killed the battery on Mom's van today...but only temporarily. Who knew that leaving the key in for the air and radio could kill it in 15 minutes?

-I'm waiting for a place to live, trying not to be anxious. My friends are in Santa Clarita researching places, so once again, all I can do is wait.

-I'm impatiently waiting for one of my best friends to visit this weekend. I have a lot of stuff to do between now and Friday afternoon.

-Dad killed a rattlesnake today. Brenda and Lexi went to give Sutter his dinner behind the house, and the next thing I knew, Lexi was back on the kitchen step with very big eyes. "There's a rattlesnake!!!" The snake was coiled and very angry! I opened the gate to get Sutter out of his pen, and Dad put him in the garage where he'd be safe. The little kids were ordered inside and instructed to look out the little girls' bedroom window if they wanted to watch. Dad fetched his rifle and hit the snake with his first shot! He shot the snake a second time in the neck. I severed the head with a shovel, put the head in a coffee can and the body in a paper bag, washed the snake blood out of Sutter's pen, and tossed the snake in the trash trailer. I must say, 3 snakes in 11 years of living on this property isn't too bad. Maybe I'll be able to kill the snake next time. It is just creepy to get that close to a lethal snake and hope you don't miss when you try to cut his head off.

-That's about all for now! Happy Tuesday!

Birthday

Man, I have not been blogging much this summer...ooops.

Yesterday was my birthday! I turned 23. Irene (one of my bestest friends) and I went kayaking at Bowman Lake. Should be fun, right? Well, the way out was fun...and the company was fun...the way back was not fun. I discovered that I do not like kayaking. I would probably do it again if threatened with death, but...(just kidding). I was exhausted from lack of sleep and had had enough. So a shorter amount of time would be good.

I will probably come back to my blog tomorrow and wonder what on earth I was talking about in this post, as I am very tired. Oh well. ;)

Some other people who share my birthday:
Randy - the neighbor boy when I was 5-10 years old; my brothers are still friends with him and actually went to his party today

Hannah - the sister of a friend with whom I have now lost touch

Mrs. Ralston - the mom of this guy, Amos

Arnold - yes, the Governator

Lindsey - former co-worker at Sunshine and college friend

Jason - another co-worker at Sunshine

Oh, and happy birthday, Kat! Even though you're in New Zealand with the International Date Line and everything, I'm STILL two days older than you. :)

EDIT: My birthday is July 30th. I posted this on August 1st, but it still seemed like the day after my birthday...any way.

A brand neu (man) day...

The day started very early. I jumped from the top bunk in Adrienne's room in Slight, the summer dorm at TMC, at 6:02 am. The early morning called for drastic measures. I set up my laptop in the bathroom and danced with Lou Bega to "Mambo Number 5" as I got ready for Luke and Danielle's big day. Bride Danielle and maid of honor Sherrie stopped to say hi as I was on the side of the road putting up the signs that declared NEUMAN WEDDING ----->.

It was very fun to be involved in the wedding. Though it wasn't official, I was the second photographer for the wedding. [Insert really big smile here] It was really fun! Once I buy a really nice digital SLR camera and learn how to use it, if anyone wants me to secondshoot for a wedding, I am totally cool with that. You don't even have to pay me. (Just don't get your hopes too high; I'm not that good).

Funny moments:
Watching the family, groomsmen, and bridesmaids enter the hall to the tune of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"...oh dear.

The pastor, Josh Sheridan, messing up the ceremony with the first words out of his mouth: "Who gives this man to this woman in marriage?"

Not knowing how to sing "Be Thou My Vision." Who knew that the CD would jump directly to the next verse with no pause for breath? Luke's dad tried to fill in the verse with a few comments...

The non-traditional addition to the traditional, for-better-for-worse-in-sickness-in-health..."sink or swim"...

Danielle, very excited: "Should I kiss him again?!" during the cake-cutting.

I had a great time at the wedding. I loved taking pictures for my good friends Luke & Danielle Neuman. It was great to see a ceremony that honored God in a very real way, not fake or forced like some weddings can be. And the great thing is, that is just the way Luke and Danielle are. They don't claim to have it all figured out, but they strive to honor God as they go through life together.

Here's to the Lord, Luke and Danielle, Who saw fit to bring both of you to Him, to Master's, and to each other for life. I love you muchly.

SoCal

I'm down here in SoCal...doin' stuff...

It has been nice so far. The weather is kinda hot, but it's hot in NorCal, too.

Today I had an interview, and I can be a substitute teacher! Crazy! I also applied for a full-time English position. We shall see how that one turns out.

I've had a good time hanging with friends and enjoying the hospitality of Jenni, Mandy, Michelle, and Michelle (though Jenni, Michelle, and Michelle aren't really here right now...).

This post is kinda boring because I'm not thinking about blog posts. I'm really thinking about washing the chlorine out of my very frizzy hair.

So you all have a great week, readers! Time to restore the hair to normal...

Blank

For once, I don't know what to blog about. So maybe I'll just make a list of things that have been happening.

Job. Waiting to hear back from a district in SoCal begging me to come for an interview because the hiring personnel is so impressed with my application and résumé that they want to hire me right away, but that is not fair to other applicants, so they must interview me

first. (How's that for a run-on?!) Or at least that's what I'm hoping they would say...I'm really just waiting for an offer for an interview to substitute teach. I hope it comes soon.

Car. I now have a manual (his name is Manuel). I am rather proud of myself when I go the whole day without stalling it. I'm getting better, though!!!

Car. I am trying to sell the automatic. Please sell! I need to pay Mom and Dad back, and I want to go to SoCal for Luke and Danielle's wedding!

Kids. The little kids Lucas Lee, Alexis Nikole, and Giovanni Vann were adopted on July 9, 2009 at the courthouse in Nevada City!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are Byers forever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No worries about leaving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are all very excited about it! We are going to have an adoption party on Sunday. :)

2 grandparents, 2 parents, 7 siblings, and 3 sisters-in-law. I am truly blessed. (I do have more family and grandparents, fyi.)

Books. My goal is to read ten books this summer. Not a very high goal, but I got kinda burnt out after about the third or fourth week. I want to finish 1984 by George Orwell, Living the Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney, and Is God Really in Control? by Jerry Bridges. I know, that is only three. I might read Animal Farm by George Orwell or The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne or The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck...or some other book I have. I suppose I should get through the first three first, though...Or maybe I'll read one of my new travel books...hmmmmmmm....

Fruit. This is random, I know, but I decided to list my favorite fruit: Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, mangos, cantaloupe, and peaches. Mmmmm-mmm-mmmm...

Picture. I like pictures. Here is one:

"The Originals" on the day before Garret's wedding:

Garret, me, Scott, Ross...in reverse age order. ;)

Two

Wow, I haven't written in a week! Sorry folks. Every time I would consider posting I would think, "No, you just posted!" Well, maybe that was true last Monday, but it wasn't true by the end of the week! Oh well. ;)

Here is a quote from D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. I found it on Pastor Todd's site a while ago.

“The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’ - what business have you to be disquieted? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’ - instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.’"

Here is another quote from the guest speaker in church today, Amir Tsarfati (an Israeli national!).

"Jesus told the disciples that in the end there will be wars and rumors of wars [Mt. 24:6; Mk. 13:7]. This is not good. But it is called the Good News."

What goes around...

comes around.

Haha, here is a post on Jenica's blog about Jennica.

I say, there's no way I'm cooler than you, Jenica. You've actually gone out there and taught overseas. It's going to take me a while. ;)

And I love this quote from a past post of Jenica's:

"Yet something is missing. There's an ongoing search, and no amount of comparison of here and there will really answer the questions. Perhaps some of us were not meant to be part of a place. Perhaps I am one of those." (on having a sense of place)

Lynx...errrr, Links!

On a more serious note than late-night adventures involving centipedes, here are two links that I think are really important to read.

They were brought to my attention by reading Todd Bolen's blog (former IBEX professor, who is coming to visit SoCal with his family soon!).

The link on Todd's blog is about the devastating effects of adultery. (by Randy Alcorn)

The link in the link on Todd's blog is about the considerations of viewing promiscuity in film. (by John Piper)

Read 'em. Consider 'em. Vow that with God's help, you will never become part of the sad statistics.

Creepy Crawlies

Yes, readers, that is a centipede...and yes, that is my Nalgene for perspective. It seems like, since I came home about 5 weeks ago, every spider and bug has come out to greet me.

Now I know that my bumper sticker says that I am a spider killer. This is true. I guess this is just case-in-point that spiders 1) can't read or 2) don't understand warnings.

I can't count how many spiders, bugs, and flies I have killed since I came home. This is not to say that my house is dirty or anything. But it is summertime. These bugs decide that they want the A/C, too, or that they want to go on vacation, or something, so they come on in!

And I am ready for them.

I just wish they would go away.

Any way, about the centipede. I was on facebook, talking to a friend, when I heard a scratching sound. I looked down to see the end of a 3-inch long centipede disappear under the keyboard!

--HOLD ON!!!!!!! 3 INCH LONG CENTIPEDE JUST CRAWLED ACROSS THE DESK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!--

Thus began the assault on the unsuspecting creature. Pretty soon the thing crawled out from under the keyboard and and proceeded to hide under the computer modem. I considered calling the customer assistance number on the computer but wasn't sure that it would be helpful.

I tried to kind of slide the annoyance out from under the modem with a piece of paper, but he wouldn't cooperate. So I ran down the hallway to get my camera and my Nalgene for perspective. I managed to get the insect to come out from under the computer. I snapped a picture then retrieved the trash can from the bathroom and attempted to push the offending party off the desk with some TP.

He wouldn't have it.

He held on to the desk and the TP with his little legs as he bent over backwards from the edge of the desk, struggling not to get canned.

Gravity took its toll, and the villain fell. I made sure he was actually in the trash and hadn't escaped onto the floor again, and then promptly flushed him.

I have no idea how the miniature monster got into the house and up onto the desk without me seeing him. After all, he was huge!
Oh well, the adventure is over.

I just hope he didn't bring his siblings along when he entered the house......

A taste of home

Fig Newtons

"They're not cookies, they're granola bars chopped up in squares."

-gio

Terminology

"What's a gadget?"

-luke

"A thingamabob."

-mom

"Like a cookie?"

-luke

Peaches

"I don't like the skin."

-gio

"I thought you didn't like buunt [burnt]. Is that buunt?"

-mom

"I think so! But it's fwuity, not buuny!"

-gio

Star Wars

"I know what the Force is, it's 'please'!"

-gio

Shhhhhh

"What's Brenda crying about?"

-mom
"She's not crying, she's yelling."

-gio

Minty fresh

"You are not brushing your teeth. You are rinsing your mouth with your toothbrush in it!"

-dad

Tickle attack

"Did you hear about the lady who died from being tickled? They were tickling her and she couldn't breathe, and she died."

-me

"Were you tickling her?"

-lexi

Hands

"God's got everything in His hands."

-brenda

"The whole earth?"

-luke

"Yeah."
-brenda

"But He's not holding it, 'cuz then it wouldn't turn."
-gio

Haha

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you...but you're not laughing."

-mom

Lexi, Gio, Mr. Toadally Rad, Luke, and Brenda

Unique? I think not.

I had a breakthrough when I was in Yosemite. I thought about the people who like to complain about their problems but don't do anything about them. I know we are all there at some point, but the difference is in how the person ends up dealing with the problem.

There are no unique people out there. Yes they have unique personalities and such, but they all have similar problems and sins (nothing new under the sun, I suppose). The real problem is that when people see their problems or sins as being unique, they think that they can effectively exempt themselves from the solutions and/or the consequences.
"Well, yes, that solution or action sounds good and right, but my situation is different. It won't work for me. So I'm going to keep on doing this wrong thing or not doing this good thing or being a victim of the problem until God miraculously removes this from my life."
Lame. Lame. Not going to work. (Unless you die...but then you wouldn't have a life... ;) )
I guess it was such a breakthrough because that is what I do and many other people do, usually subconciously. They don't actively think that they are helpless to conquer the problem or the sin, but that is the way they act.

And it's wrong. And it's not helpful. And it's frustrating. And we wonder why the problem won't just LEAVE.
Ha.

'Cuz it's easier to sit under an umbrella in the living room than to patch the leaking roof.

It ain't easy. But that's no surprise.

God never promised that life and its problems would be easy. But He did say He would never leave us nor forsake us. He'll be there to hand you the boards to patch the leaking roof.

And this analogy is done. I hope it helps someone out there. Ditch the umbrella and pick up the hammer. :)

Summit

I couldn't remember if I said I was going to Yosemite or not on my blog. So I used the handy little ctrl+f shortcut and found out that there was no instance of the word "Yosemite" in my current blog postings. Thus, I had not told you.

I went to Yosemite! ;)

Ross, Scott, Ashley, Garret, Kaydee, Irene, and I were the grateful recipients of ibex-roommate-and-friend Emily's family's mistake. At least I think it was a mistake.

Em's family reserved two campsites for a week, but some of their extended family was not coming till later in the week. Em contacted a few people via Facebook to see if anyone could use

the two nights that were available at the second site. After contacting a few brothers, sisters-in-law, and a friend, I said, "Hey, we want it!" It was so awesome! Thanks Em! We had a great time. Unfortunately Audra could not come because she had to work. Sad times! Next time, Audra!

As we were planning for our Sunday to Tuesday trip, Irene and I decided that we wanted to hike Half Dome. Ross, Scott, and Ashley would have come up too if we were going to be in the valley longer, but they decided to spend the short time going to Glacier Point with Garret and Kaydee and hanging out. So Irene and I hiked Half Dome on Monday.

Here are some facts:

+about a 5,000 foot change in altitude; the summit is 8,836 feet

+8.2 miles one direction (unless you get lost like we did; then it is 8.7 miles one direction ;) )

+if you slip under the cables, you will fall to your death

+there are frequent thunderstorms with lightning, and there is nowhere to hide on top

+sometimes the poles holding the cables are loose

+you can get altitude sickness if you don't drink enough water

+put your feet flat against the rock when you climb the cables; if you try to use your toes, you will slip

Thankfully I knew about the altitude sickness before I started climbing, unfortunately from experience last summer in Tahoe. I was not about to do that again! So I drank a LOT of water. I used Scott's big Camelback and my Nalgene.

It was a great experience. The hike was tedious but fun. The views were beautiful. God's creation screams of His love of beauty. I was afraid that I would get to the cables and turn back because...I don't like heights. I know, I know...why hike it then?

'Cuz it is THERE. Staring me in the face. I'm not a quitter. I had to.

I stared at my feet as I went up, barely looking out at the valley waaaaaaaaay below me. I told Irene to shut up about the people dying from falling or about the fact that the poles were loose or about the fact that her feet were slipping.

We made it up, had something to eat, talked to a few people, took jumping pictures. Irene almost took a little nap; she'd been up two times before.

We were some of the last people to get back down. It was not bad at all going down, besides the knowledge of the fact that if you let go, you would tumble end over end to your death. But ya know, 'sides that, it was fine. ;)

I thought I would be happy to go downhill after about seven hours of going uphill. Nope. The miles had taken their toll on my knee, toes, and ankle. For the last few miles I was focusing on walking correctly. But I made it, and God didn't let me die. :)

Favorite moments:

Irene yelling/snarling at a squirrel before we realized there were also people behind us! They walked away...hehe.

Making it to the top without dying and taking awesome pics!

Talking to a bunch of random people on the way up and the way back down.

Ross trying to lure a squirrel into the tent with Cheez-its to get the squirrel to jump on Irene in her sleeping bag.

Hanging out and talking with everyone.

As you can see, I had a great time. I love adventure. It is a part of me, and I hope I never lose it.