Football

I heard something great this weekend. NFL is a different world compared to Pop Warner football. As you work your way up in the football world you acquire/need more coaches to win the game.

The NFL sees the need to intensify the number of coaches.The NFL just ruled there there can not be a cap on how many coaches a team could have.

Now comparing this to a christian walk....a few years into your walk is when everyone thinks the most attention is needed, but its so important that even when you get into the NFL ProBowl of Christian Living, you need that many more 'coaches' to help you get through.

adorn.

I just got back from a wonderful weekend down south. I was able to attend 'adorn,' a conference put on by Reality LA and Reality Carpenteria. The weekend was full of solid teaching, solid worship and solid fellowship. I was really looking forward to hearing Britt Merrick teach, but because of the Santa Barbara fires he had to stay at home. I did get to here Tim Chadick preach it, Dominic Bali rock out, lead worship and preach it along with some other great teachers and worship leaders.

One of the best parts was being surrounded by 250+ twenty and thirty somethings. It was wonderful. We sang a song "Oh God let us be a generation that seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob." My generation wants to seek God's will for our country and our lives.

It seems that there is a gap in reaching the age group I was with this weekend, although there is such a need! I have a vision of DLI people, young professionals, students, couples, singles and anyone and everyone else come together on the pennisula.

I went to a 'cool' church last week and it had great great worship but lacked any sort of substance in the teaching. My vision is a home group, a church, a study or something with solid worship and solid teaching where relationships can be formed, gifts can be used and God can work. I know He wants to use us to make an impact on this world and pennisula and wants to use this generation to seek His face!

It was crazy to get this view of the fires down south. Check out the smoke cloud! My friend's father's house almost was hit!! The sunset was glorious because of the fire, but it was so windy I couldn't get a still shot.

Reality Camp

This weekend I am driving down to Green Valley Lake to go to Reality LA and Carpinteria's College Camp-"Adorn." It's great because its 18-30 and it sounds like a lot of people will be around my age! The Lord has blessed me with true fellowship the last weeks and it continues this weekend!

For my birthday present Jaime, Andrea and Aaron paid for me to go to Reality Camp. Its so cool because the Lord chose to use me to bring Jaime to the Lord. Then He used Jaime to bring Andrea to the Lord and used Me, Jaime and Andrea to bring Aaron to the Lord. Cool huh??!!

Britt Merrik and Tim Chaddick will be teaching and doing music! I can't wait!

Along with a glorious weekend where I really will 'go up to the mountains' to spend time alone with my maker, I get to skip school on Friday and my friend Eliza will be subbing for me, so I know that my kids will be in great hands!

I'll hopefully get some great photos this weekend! Please pray for the entire weekend!

It's Official.

I am an adult. Today was my 26th birthday. My two things I love most in life are church things and travel things-and they both say I'm too old.

1. As of today I am 'too old' to attend the young adult fellowship at church.

2. STA travel, Rail Europe, Student Universe (just to name a few) all say that 26 is not youth anymore and so I do not qualify for youth rail passes, student fares, etc.

Bummer. Thankfully though I am still blessed and thankful for the life my maker has chosen for me-the adventures I have been able to have and the adventures yet to happen.

Here's to year 26.

Macaroni and Cheese

I forgot to post this earlier, but here is my awesome Halloween costume fully complete. Last year I was looking and looking for my Macaroni, but this year I found her! I'm sure you could only imagine how hilarious our Kinder and first grade babies thought this was along with their parents! I wish you could see my feet. I had yellow socks and bright orange birks.

So yesterday as I was walking my students out front afterschool I ran into a 5th grader who was writing #1 Obama on many's faces with a marker. I took the marker away and let her know it was not appropriate. 5 minutes later I caught her again with another marker. I called her by name and let her know if she did not come with me to talk with her teacher that she would be in bigger trouble than she already was. After I talked to her teacher, this student (African-American 5th grader) called me a 'cracker' as I was walking away. I googled the term and it came up with: "Historically the word suggested poor, white rural Americans with little formal education."

So when the referral was written up and the principal was talking to her about her attitude, this 5th grader justified her name towards me by telling the principal that because I was a cheese for Halloween and crackers go nice with cheese that it was OK. I know its bad and disrespectful and horrible and rude.....but it definetly put a smile on my face. lol.

Proverbs 26:12 says

12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?

There is more hope for a fool than for him.

My King students have so much to learn and my prayer is that they do not continue to wise in their own eyes.

Politicians

If I had to choose a political party I would have to side with the Republicans because of my conservative values. So because of that I somehow get Monterey Republican emails for different events and social activities. I was able to attend the VP debate this way and last night I attended the Republican Election Party at the Hyatt. It was sponsored by Abel Maldenado to celebrate his victory last night. If you have ever been to a wedding at the Hyatt or looked into weddings at the Hyatt you know that they can charge $100/person for a chicken or beef choice with a salad. Last night they had a huge chunk of prime rib they cut off of all evening, a salad bar with roasted veggies, homemade sliders with grilled onions and an open bar! I was able to network and speak to different people in different occupations and even smiled with Mr. Maldonado.

I kind of lied to him last night. I do not know what Abel stands for but know that he ran for Senator for the 15th District of California and won! So I went up to him when he was kind of free and introduced myself and told him I was a public school teacher and appreciated his educational values. I really don't know what his values are, but if the commercials are true I feel confident it wasn't completely a lie. Anyway, that got a smile and a picture! You never know....maybe he'll be our first Latino president who doesn't have a lot of experience other than being a Senator.

I also was schmoozing (sp?) with the Republican Women's Association and loving the Filipino Bartenders. lol.

(I'm pointing to my Abel pin) hehe

Grandma

I put my camera on the automatic timer and had a photo shoot with my grandma. Check out the beautiful fall leaves and the vineyards behind us!

Exciting Weekend

This weekend I drove up to my Grandma's house located in St. Helena in the beautiful Napa Valley. She is 88 and has had leg complications for awhile now. She still lives by herself but is one amazing lady. I was there and I told my Grandma to wake me up if she needed anything because I don't need that much sleep and I was there to help her.

Well at 1am I hear "GRETA, GRETA get me some orange juice. I am really dizzy and my blood pressure is low. I get her some OJ and then she says, "I think I should press the lifeline button just in case-I do pay $30/month for it."

Now my grandma is terrified of the hospital or 911 calls so I knew it was serious when my grandma suggested we call lifeline, which then called 911 for us.

Sooner than later I had a firetruck and an ambulance driving up and down the long road looking for my grandma's house. I did some morse code blinking the porch light on and off and finally they all arrived. They took the blood pressure, checked her heart with a cool machine and had her walk. They all decided she was fine and went off on their merry way. I told them to be thankful they got their hour back that evening.

So the next day I try to leave around 2pm and once I get on the Highway to travel out of town I notice my steering wheel is acting up. I pull over only to find out I have a flat! OH! I was annoyed. Thankfully Grandma had Triple A so I called and the man came, changed my tire and directed me to my owner's manuel about how much I can drive on the spare. It said I could drive speeds up to 55mph but try to stay at 50. So I had normally a 3 hour drive and so by the time I got home it had taken me about 4 hours.

Here is the bad news. It was dark and foggy after a certain point so I decided for safety reasons to drive with my hazard lights on. People were zooming past me and it was scary only being about to go 50 in a 65mph zone. A mile from my exit to home I get the wonderful signal that I need to pull over because a Highway Patrol is behind me. Thankfully he was really nice, but let me know that in CA it is illegal to drive with your hazards on. I told him I was scared and people were driving so fast and because it was dark and scary that I needed them on. He said he just wanted to make sure I was safe because the last time he pulled someone over with their hazard lights on, they were strung ou on lithium. I smiled politely and reassured him that I was not on drugs but a scaredy cat wanting to get home.

What a weekend!