Fear Factor here I come

So tonight was SURGE (the junior high youth group that I am an advisor for). During the month of March we do what is called "March Madness." And it is madness. We are split into four teams and we do many things to compete against the others. The teams get points for coming, bringing their Bibles, dressing up with the team theme, and many other things. They also are awarded points for what place they get in the game and crowd breaker. Which brings me to tonight.

Tonight was the last day of March Madness and we saved the grossest, nastiest things for tonight. John was talking about fear and dying (to ourselves and spiritually, not physical death). So of course we had to do something related to fear....what better than our own version of Fear Factor. For the game we took a gatorade water cooler and rigged a "contraption" from the ceiling and put glow in the dark bouncy balls in the cooler and hung it from high above. We turned off all the lights and then pulled the lid off and kids had to collect as many balls as they could. It was pretty insane with it being so dark and there were a lot of kids.

Then for the crowd breaker we had each team send up three reps and made sure they weren't allergic to any foods. We placed in front of them three plates of wonderful foods: 1-sardines 2- dried squid that was seasoned with something and also some dried anchovies 3- half a can of boiled oysters. It smelled so raunchy in that room, I thought I was going to puke. So I got up and started announcing the crowd breaker and we carried on. The kids actually did better than I thought they would. However, my team and "your mom goes to college" (one of the other teams) could not finish so Andrew and I took over. I wanted to eat something and show myself that I could. Andrew got the plate with the squid (which he liked) and the anchovies, and I got stuck with the nasty slimy oysters. You better believe I won. I swallowed those things whole, I couldn't chew them, they were absolutely disgusting. I don't know how people eat those and enjoy them. Anyhow, I started to puke in my mouth, but I had to get them all down. I did, and got third place for my team. As soon as I was done, I ran to the back and started coughing and spitting and ended up throwing up. It was lovely, I had the most wonderful smelling breath (NOT)!!!. So ya, that was my big event of the day. Hope you enjoyed it. Good night.

Oh by the way, check out Andrew's Ghetto Blog. I made a guest appearance tonight.

John trying to be Hee-Man and climb up the rock instead of going the easy route. Trying to show off for me.  

John and I in a rock at Montana de Oro on our trip up the coast. I pulled my butt and leg muscle trying to get up into this stupid hole. But it was worth it.  

Jono and Kelsey cutting up veggies for the pizzas and salad we made on Thursday night. I miss these kids.  

John and My footprints at the beach in Cayucos. 

Everyone else is doing it, so I thought I would

Check it out:

Where is the love??

It is right here in front of me. I haven't been so happy in a long time. Crazy times. Anyhow, sorry I have not been posting, Life has been keeping me busy and away from home. And I have to admit, when I am home, I am either preoccupied or just plain ol' lazy. You should know that by now.

So some frustrations have come up lately for me. I am frustrated with the living situation here on Devonshire. It is not the roommate (whom I love), it is just the surroundings. I am not feeling safe, we have been having problems with leaks in the windows, and the management has been kinda lazy with things and not so helpful. Here is the frustrating part: I don't think I can afford to move out of here and pay for a new place. Which leads me to my next frustration.

Frustration #2: not having money. I have never lived like a college student really until now. I have been eating peanut butter and jelly, top ramen, and tuna fish for like a week now. I am so poor and I am not working enough hours to make money. I need money, I have bills to pay and groceries to buy, but no money. Yeah I have a wonderful boyfriend who pays for me a lot, but I can't live off of him, he needs to pay bills and buy groceries too. I just hate worrying about money, and I know that I shouldn't but it is hard to do. I know that God will provide for me.

Some prayer requests:
- my grandmother is sick, she has been battling some things and the doctor's don't really know what is wrong. I just ask for strength and encouragement for her and her spirit, and for wisdome for the doctors.
- Donnie (my bro-in-law)- his grandmother died earlier this week. So just pray for comfort for the family in this time of loss.
- Myself, I have been having a lot of back pain lately. It has gotten to the point where nothing is comfortable and I am in constant pain. I think it is just a flare up of my spondyloarthropathy (a.k.a. rheumatoid arthritis), but I am not sure, the pain is excruciating. I am going to the doctor's in the morning, so we will see what he has to say.

Please keep me and my family in your prayers. Love to all who read. God Bless!!!

What a weekend....

The past few days have been amazing. Not necessarily in a good way though. A lot has happened and I really haven't had much time to sit and write about it. So now I am taking the time.

Let me start by saying that this weekend was already crammed with fun activities, that I didn't need any more. I am going to kind of go day by day.

Friday was nothing unusual, I had class in the afternoon and then worked. Friday night I had to rush home after work and get dolled up to go to Kerri and Sharon's mystery dinner that they were hosting. Had tons of fun there. When I came home John came over and hung out for a little bit and we watced a movie and just chatted. We stayed up until about 1:30 and were dreading waking up in the morning to go snowboarding.

On Saturday me and my fellow SURGE advisors had to get up early and meet some students at the church at 6:15 to go snowboarding. Now mind you, John left my place at 1:30 so I am already not getting a lot of sleep. Nicole and I both prayed that night that God would help us to get enough sleep and be able to wake up in the morning.

Let me just tell you that God is faithful and He does answer your prayers, sometimes not in the way you might have expected. At 3:45 or 4 in the morning I woke up to a car horn honking, nothing unusual for our building and area. So off to sleep I went. A few moments later I was awoken by Nicole screaming for me to get out of bed because there was a fire in our apartment building. YIKES!!! I started to freak. I didn't know what was going on and I was petrified. So I grabbed my shoes and my jacket and cell phone and ran outside. As I left our front door I looked to the left where huge orange and black flames and cloud were shooting up from the end of our building. I wasn't sure if it was in the parking area or if the actual building was on fire. We evacuated the apartments, or tried to and the fire department was there immediately. I am not sure exactly what happened, but all I know is that 4 cars were burned down the frame, unrecognizeable. It was the scariest thing in my life. So needless to say, we got our "wake up" call. I just can't believe how God works in lives. He is so amazing. I have been learning so much and I am going to have to continue this post tomorrow, because I am so tired.

I am going to sleep but check back soon for a follow up post.

Today I am thankful for the food God has provided for me and for friends to cook it for me!!

Yook it mommy!!!

I am so proud of myself that I have to write about it. I have been so bogged down with school lately and I also haven't been sleeping much. Needless to say, I am worn out and tired and a little weary, but I am hanging on to what hope I have left.

I am so happy and proud because I got an A on my western civ test. If you know me and history we don't usually get along. So I am very excited about that. Anyhow, I am off to class one more time today. Later.

Such a beautiful sunset to end the journey. This is just a reminder to me of how amazing and awesome God is and how much He has blessed me. Thanks John for risking your life hanging out the car window to take this for me.  

Walking down the strip you see some interesting people. This man was wearing a nice suit and riding a little girl's pink bike. After crossing the street he actually chained it up to a garbage can at Burger King. So funny!! 

The whole gang after a long night of dancing and drinking at Studio 54. Who's missing? Oh ya, Dad is taking the picture.  

We all had a fun night dancing at Studio 54.  

Hot dancer at Studio 54 that I gave a $5 tip to. Oh ya!! 

I have a good excuse

Ok so I know it has been awhile, but I have been so busy and then this weekend I was in Vegas celebrating my birthday with John and my family. Here are some pics.