Memory Lane

My Blog-iversary is coming up, on August 19th. 2 years! But, I'll be in Haiti helping the earthquake victims, and therefore not able to have a virtual party. (Incidentally, the raffles for that cause are still open, please see here to help out and enter to win big!) So... in celebration of my 2 years of blogging, I'm now going to reminisce on some of my favorite moments in my blogging history. (It conveniently intercedes with an assignment from 31 DBBB.) Join me?

I started blogging because I moved from California to Oregon and wanted to keep my friends and family updated on my life. Recently, due to some human and divine inspiration, my blog has taken a different direction.

In the early blogging days, though, I wrote about such things as my battle with the dryer in my new apartment, my first snowy winter, and my dependence on technology. I also shared a lot of the details of life in a new city, which aren't all that exciting to read two years later.

I did start writing a bit about my faith that year... what it taught me about acceptance and rejection, the extravagance of God's love, as well as His sense of humor. Those posts were the most meaningful to me, and they are part of how I discovered this blogging stuff was much more than I originally thought.

More recently, I haven't ceased to include fun and silly posts. I've blogged about my trip to Spain last summer, my best friend, and the qualities I look for in a man. I've also told my readers about some of my favorite places, some of my thoughts on vulnerability, and 10 of my secrets to working with troubled teens.

I've also been sharing about my faith journey in a series called Story of My Life, starting with my roots, then my salvation story, and a bit about answered prayer.

Blogging has been a journey, and I can't wait to see what the future holds. Just looking back through my posts for the purpose of writing this one was a lot of fun. It changes as much as I do, if not more, but it also keeps record of all the lessons I learn along the way. Happy early Blogiversary to me. :)



Want to read more? Subscribe!

Dancing Machine

If you don't know my best friend Arletta, you can read a bit about her here. She moved to New York a few months ago to continue pursuing her dancing career in the big apple. I wanted to share this fun video, even though it's not, according to her, "the most artistic or creative thing I've ever done." It's still super fun. It's very hard to see her, but if you want to try she's the tiny one in the red shirt on the far right in the front row. :) Enjoy!






Want to read more? Subscribe!

Story Of My Life: Answered Prayer

I left a piece out of my salvation story. I mentioned that I found hope in the Delta river, where a bunch of awkward teenagers revealed Jesus to me. What I didn't mention is that nothing actually happened on the houseboat trip. Well, things happened - swimming, mud fights, skits and singing, banana boating, all the good stuff. But no enormous, spiritual transformation occured in my life while I was there. As with everything else in my life, I took it all in, but I needed time to process it. When I returned home, I surveyed the situation. I knew that I was about to leap into something that could bring me unspeakable joy, but it would also bring radical change. And I hate change. I suffer from neophobia, (fear of new things) and I was freaked out. So I prayed, "Lord, I want to live for you. I want hope, and peace, and joy. But I can not do this alone. I need you to show me somehow that I can do this. I need some sign from you that I won't be alone. And then I'm all in. Amen." Yeah, looking back it seems selfish and ridiculous. But God saw me as a heart seeking after Him and being honest about my shortcomings. And He answered my prayer. The next day, one of my closest friends (circa preschool) who had never really claimed any faith, but had been with me on the houseboat trip, called me. She said, matter-of-factly, "I decided to give my life to Jesus. Just thought you should know." That was my amazing, miraculous sign. I think the reason that I left it out of the story is that my precious friend is no longer walking with Jesus. But that doesn't change the fact that she was part of my story. God answered my prayer. And for one glorious summer we worshipped, prayed, and read the bible together. And by the time she walked away from her faith, I was strong enough in mine to do it on my own. And her story is not over.

My story continues with Bumps In The Road and Freedom.



Subscribe in a reader

Palm Sunday

The crowds spread out their coats on the road ahead of Jesus. As they reached the place where the road started down from the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.

"Bless the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in highest heaven!"

But some of the Pharisees among the crowd said, "Teacher, rebuke your followers for saying things like that!"

He replied, "If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would immediately cry out."

Luke 19:36-40

This is my favorite part of the Triumphal Entry. I have always had a picture in my mind of my God, my King, Jesus, riding into the city on a donkey (arguably not the world's fanciest animal) Simple clothing, simple transportation, but still a King. And as his followers praise him with palm branches, others rebuke those who worship the Lord. I picture His face, calm and serene, looking at them and simply replying, "If they kept quiet, the stones along the road would immediately cry out."

And as I stood there, on the hill where my Lord entered that amazing city, I picked up a few of the rocks from the road. I imagined them bursting into praises, and to be honest, I kind of wished they would, because that would be something to behold. But they didn't have to, because I do it for them. Do you?

Pictured above: moments after my much less triumphant entry into Jerusalem, with my friend Jenn.

Best Friend

I have always had a best friend, as long as I can remember. Not a different one, with each passing year, although many special people have come and gone, and I am lucky to have several forever friends. But today, I celebrate my best friend. I met her in preschool, she was one of my first friends when I moved to Carmel Valley. A few years later, my family announced that her family would be moving in with ours. This is every little girl's dream to have a friend move in with you. Especially considering I was so much younger than my sisters, so to have someone my age to talk to and play with was a dream come true. It was not always such a fairytale, mind you. There were the days when she refused to play board games with me, and when I painted the most horrendous Cinderella across her face, and the days when we left each other out and hurt each other's feelings because we wanted to play with other friends. There was the summer that I spent practicing my multiplication tables because I couldn't master them in the third grade, while she danced around the kitchen because she had skipped the third grade, and had mastered them without even going. There were the days she came home from dance practice tired and hungry, and I learned to wait until after she had eaten to try to get her to play with me. But that's sisterhood, right? There were also the costumes that we put on for plays and dances that we performed for the adults. There was playing Little Mermaid in the hot tub. There were the nights (many) when I would be just about to fall asleep and I would hear, from the bottom bunk, "Colleen?" and I would respond, "Yeah?" and without fail, she would then reply, "Are you awake?" There were uncontrollable fits of giggles. There was the irreplacable feeling that someone is growing up right alongside you. Before we went to middle school, we had moved into separate houses, and then we spent three long years at separate schools. But there were many phone calls, to discuss the ever important subjects of boys and school dances and the like. In high school, we were so happily reunited at Carmel High. Although our lifestyles were different, with her being the cheerleader and the dance team captain and the homecoming queen (she's probably cringing at being reminded), and I was happy to fade into the background, we still shared our lives. In college and afterward, we moved on to new cities and new adventures, but always knowing that the other was just a phone call away. I have a lifetime of memories with my best friend: dancing, singing, laughing, crying, talking, arguing, pretending, camping, traveling, exploring, separating and reuniting. I look forward to a million more memories in the rest of this life. Today is her birthday, and she is living 3,000 miles away. So I wanted to make sure, that with just a click of a button, she can be reminded of her best friend, who is missing her and thinking of her. And always here. Love you, Letta. To the moon and around the sun. Happy birthday.

Spain Day Eight: Barcelona

On Day 8, our last day in Barcelona, Adriana and I ditched the tour bus and explored the city on foot. First we checked out the Gothic Cathedral, which was very close to our hostel. Unfortunately, they were doing some construction to the outside of it, but it was still very impressive.









Then we went to the Parc de la Ciutadella, which is filled with trees, pretty buildings, a gorgeous fountain, and the Arc de Triomphe (a bit familiar... ha ha.)









Then we wandered to La Pedrera, another building designed by Gaudi. It used to house luxury apartments, but now is kind of like a museum, with one decorated "apartment" inside, and a bunch of his unique structures on the roof.















Then we wandered back to the area where our hostel was located. We wandered down Las Ramblas, which is a strip filled with street vendors and performers.

We stopped by La Boqueria market, which is a huge open market with all kinds of colorful fruits, vegetables, meats, candy, etc. We each had a fresh squeezed juice, which was very refreshing. :)






We headed back to the hostel and got dressed up, since it was our last night in Barcelona. On our way to dinner, we were followed by a creepy guy begging for money, and we hurried into an Italian restaurant to escape him. Believe it or not, he followed us in! Adriana told him that we were eating dinner and to leave us alone. The restaurant staff escorted him out, and they were very nice to us after that. Luckily, we had a delicious meal and more amazing sangria, and we promptly forgot about our little scare. :)

Spain Day Seven: Barcelona

Slowly but surely I am going to finish this Spain series. I don't really have anything else to blog about, so I may as well get this done.


On my seventh day in Spain, Adriana and I continued our bus tour. We got out at the beach, and walked down the coast a bit before hopping back on the bus.














We then went to La Sagrada Familia ("the holy family"), which is an incredible church which has been a work in progress since 1882. The architect, Antoni Gaudi, died in 1926, and since then many other architects have tried to finish what he started. It was amazing to see how the architecture of the building tells the story of Jesus' birth, life and death, and how much passion and worship went into creating the church. I was definitely impressed.














We continued on to have lunch. (At this point I was very low on blood sugar and a bit grumpy - but nothing an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet couldn't cure!) Then from there we hopped off the bus at Park Guell, which is an architectural park designed by Gaudi (same guy as above), full of neat buildings that reminded me of gingerbread houses, and structures covered in his distinct style of mosaic.

We went back to our hostel - after stopping for an amazing treat - Belgian waffle covered in chocolate and whipped cream, yummy! We ate them on our little balcony. Then we rested for a bit, then went back out, walked around our little neighborhood, and had falafel for dinner - not a traditional Spanish food, but it was tasty. :)