this is why i'm scared of animals.....

and also why i despise going to the zoo.

Oh no Topanga....

Must you be like everyone else?? 

I had such high hopes for you....

Thanks Alanna!!!!!

So my dad booked my flight home for Christmas too early....
and i missed taking our high school staff christmas picture!!!!
but never fail....Alanna has some crazy awesome photoshop skills! 
Not sure how she found this picture of me, George W, and my roommate in college But well done Alanna! Well done!!!

I LOVE MY JOB!

I LOVE MY TEAM! 

I cannot wait for this!!

Only my small group....

gets kicked off candy cane lane for dancing in the street. =)
super fun night celebrating Christmas with the "small" group!
Even if we were asked to leave....haha.

Deep Thoughts From listening to David Crowder....

SUCH A GOOD SONG!!

At the start
he was there, he was there
In the end,
he’ll be there, he’ll be there 

And After all our hands have wrought
He forgives 

Oh the Glory of it all is:
he came here
For the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all
for the glory of it all 

All is lost
find him there, find him there
After night
Dawn is there, Dawn is there 

After all falls apart
he repairs he repairs 

Oh the Glory of it all is:
he came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all 

oh he is here
for redemption from the fall
that we may live
for the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all
the glory of it all
oh the glory of it all 

After night
comes the light
dawn is here
dawn is here
it’s a new day
it’s a new day
everything will change
things will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same
we will never be the same 

Oh, The glory of it all is
you came here
for the rescue of us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all 

Oh you are here
with redemption for us all
that we may live
for the glory of it all

Dear david crowder....you have a way with words that makes me feel closer to God and see Him in a new light. 

That's rad. 

worst movie ever.

do not go see The Mist.

WORST MOVIE EVER.

this is why you join a small group....

two of our guys got baptized today after the 11:15 service!!! 

So us girls decided we'd jump in with them and do it together...clothes and all!! 

I LOVE THIS GROUP!!! =) 

Hands down...

hardest week i've had since starting in youth ministry. 

Delivering bad news to a student's parents is THE WORST thing ever. 

Nothing like being hated by a student you totally love to remind you why you do what you do! 

on a happier note...bowling with the small group was a blast today. 

And also...bethany and i did this on the way home while i was driving....ha this is AGAIN why we are friends. 

this will be our christmas card when we are roommates for sure.....
what would i do without great friends?!?

Dear Student Zone....

I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT YOU!!

We took a tour of the student zone today and I seriously cannot wait for the day it opens. Lives are going to be changed by what takes place inside those walls...i can just picture our sweet kids hanging out...building relationships...coming to services....playing basketball....i can just see all of it and I CAN'T WAIT! To give our students a safe place to hang out with people that love them...it's priceless. I'm praying for Griff and ETV this weekend that the congregation would see the value of what will take place inside those walls! 

dear zack...1998 called....they said they had enough extras for saving private ryan...

Happy Cleaning Day!!

Today was cleaning day around the office....Katie and I volunteered to clean the DISGUSTING fridge out.

there was this nasty bag of chicken found by katie...

this amazingly old sandwhich
celery (on the left) that was barely recognizeable
this moldy piece of cheese.....
this ketchup to be scraped off.....


all in all....it was a good cleaning day. =)

Life Time Movie....

So...my life is kinda like a lifetime movie right now....here's the run down of my trip to Florida/Georgia/Louisiana/Mississippi/South Carolina. 

I flew to Jacksonville, Florida on thursday morning....drove to my parents in Georgia where once again I GOT A NEW CAR!! Then on Monday I flew to New Orleans, Louisiana where my sister picked me up and we drove to her house in Mississippi. On Wednesday I drove from Mississippi back to my parents in Georgia with my 2 nephews. Then this morning we got up and drove to Charleston, South Carolina to meet the second half of my family that we never knew about...only to fly back to California in the morning and leave for Chi Alpha on saturday. woooo i'm gonna die. ha. 

So why is my life a lifetime movie....well apparently my grandpa got his girl friend pregnant in high school and they gave the little boy (eddie) up for adoption without telling anyone. When Eddie's adopted parents died he found out he was adopted and started tracing back his family and he found us. SO we all met up here in S.C. for a little family reunion deal. IT'S BEEN SO FUN!! So now i have an Aunt and Uncle and 3 cousins that i never knew about...and they are so so so so sooooo nice. And we also found out there's most likely another sibling they are trying to track down...the plot thickens...Oprah here we come. =) 

I MISS CALIFORNIA!!! 

I MISS COFFEE WITH BETHANY!! 

I MISS MY FRIENDS!!

I MISS MY STUDENTS!!! 

I can't wait to come home tomorrow. =) 

Things about Georgia that are funny....

you can buy this at a gas station....(which i did of course)

and this sign is necessary in a bathroom.....

so i got a new car....

I'M SO EXCITED!!!
i'm gonna sell my car and drive this one back at christmas!!!
Road trip anyone???

Dear Oregon trail...

I LOVE YOU!!! =)
here's a recap of the rough day we had on the trail....

It started out with Me, Bethany, Katie Shannon, Zack, and Shaun.
Water got scarce and Zack died of thirst....

Things were going well until Bethany almost drowned....

But fear not....Tom Holladay came along to save the day....

She had frostbite from her near death experience....

but we pressed on.
Until all of the sudden....death struck again and Shaun died of thirst.

then out of no where....tradgedy struck again....and Bethany died from reasons unknown.

These were our choices on how to deal with her death...i believe we continued immediately.

this is her sad face over her recent death.

This is katie and I staying strong on the long trip.

To be continued....

25 questions from Katie...

in 3 words or less...
1. Where is your cell phone? by my foot.
2. Who is your boyfriend/girlfriend or Husband/Wife? no thank you.
3. Where is one of your parents? home in georgia
4. Cheesecake? a lovely treat.
5. Your favorite thing to do? mondays with bethany
6. Your dream last night? not a clue
7. Your favorite drink? a little rootbeer
8. The room you're in? not mine, weird.
9. George Bush? i love him.
10. What you're good at? being open minded.
11. One of your wish list items? my own apartment
12. Where did you grow up? hawaii, georgia, tennessee
13. The last thing you did? freshman small group
14. What are you wearing? soccer pants, shirt.
15. Who stole your sunglasses? a cute little african boy. =)
16. Ketchup? not necessary
17. Your computer? white mac book
18. Your life? so so great.
19. Your mood? a little tired.
20 Your next blog? something funny happens.
21. Your car is? pretty dang dirty.
22. Your summer? spent in africa. =)
23. Your relationship status? a little complicated.
24. Your favorite color(s)? green!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
25. When is the last time you laughed? during small group


i tag my beeeeeeest friend mariah. =)

Fun Lunch

#1 John Sterns has the WORLD'S FLATTEST FEET!! #2 this is a fun group of people to share a lunch table with.

Yesterday

Right behind the oakley building in foothill/portola hills area....

New Pictures

these were right outside Griff's house....taken with the miraculous shutter speed of my iphone. ha.

That's only in the morning....

Remember when California is on fire....

This is so crazy....i can see the smoke from the fire on the 241 from my house.
It looks like the movie Volcano.
SO crazy!!
Living in California is nuts sometimes....these things don't really happen anywhere else.

Wrapped in the Holy Spirit....

So I coach this soccer team.
11 year old girls.

and today my team is playing the 1st place team and just getting owned. We played really, really well...in fact the best so far...but the other team was just bigger and stronger. So once of my girls took a pretty decent shot from another player and fell down. So i got to do the typical coach thing and jog on the field to check on her. **let me preface this by saying I was the player that would only leave the field if something was broken in two. My coach had to drag me off the field....so I'm not terribly sympathetic. I took A TON of pride in being tough.** this kid on the other hand was WAILING. Not just crying but literally WAILING! So i'm already angry that she's being such a baby....i mean the hit really wasn't that bad...when her mom comes over to the bench and begins to baby her and tell her that when she fell she was "wrapped in a blanket by the holy spirit and that it didn't really hurt because she was covered by the blood of the lamb." Now i'm not even kidding right now...this was a literal conversation. No exaggeration. So as this mom is babying this little girl....i'm dying inside....dying of laughter...dying of frustration with this little girl and her mom....and this whole time the kid is screaming...you would have thought someone had cut her arm off. So 10 minutes go by and i ask her if she's ready to go back in and she says no...she wants to just rest. I almost died. It was amazing...good thing she was wrapped in the holy spirit. =)

a wonderful day off.

Such a fun day at Disneyland with one of my old students!!
Here are a few action shots. ha.
a little embarrassing that i'm concentrating so hard on buzz light year...but at least i'm winning. =)
I LOVE DISNEYLAND!!!
Going back on monday with my favorite disneyland friend, Bethany.
Feel free to join us...we're fun...and rather entertaining. =)

dang you Allison Hibbard....

VERONICA MARS IS TAKING OVER MY LIFE!!!
seriously, i have bad dreams....i think people are following me constantly....i've started to wonder what people REALLY do in their free time.
I stay awake till after 1 am watching these stupid episodes that are so dang good i can't stop.
dang you allison hibbard....why must you suggest SUCH GOOD TV!! =)

New Friends are fun

i had coffee with a new friend this afternoon.
it was fabulous.
2 hours felt like 5 minutes and like i'd known her all my life.

New friends are fun. =)

Veronica Mars

Allison Hibbard is making me watch Veronica Mars....and by making me...i mean she asked me if i wanted to watch it and i said sure.

but the best part so far....they just made fun of people from the 909. hahaha
Sorry B.

second favorite part....Paris Hilton is on the show. haha.

My Grey's Premiere Recap....

first 55 minutes.....crap

last 5 minutes.....AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Small Group #1 Night 1

So i have 2 small groups right now. One on tuesday and one on thursday.
crazy, i know. So if you know anyone that wants to lead a small group of girls let me know!!!

anyway....tonight was so great. These are great girls that ask really great questions.
It's gonna be a good year.
a growing year.
I'm excited.

I'll let you know how group #2 night 1 goes on thursday. haha. =)

Reasons why i love bethany....

#1....her biggest fear is a wiener dog....followed closely in second place by internal combustion.
#2....her loud laughter.
#3....her encouragement of MY loud laughter.
#4....our sweet roommate plans that far exceed the lame JZ manor.
#5....she puts me in awkward situations ON PURPOSE!! =)
#6....she makes me laugh always.
#7....she's going to dance on the table when we live together.
#8....she had an eye brow piercing.
#9....she lived in the 909...which always makes for a good story.
#10...living with her = instant engagement.

don't worry B...i'll hold your hand when we live together so someone will know you internally combusted.
What do I do with the dust afterwards???? =)

i loooooooove you B!

my name is allison....

and I'm addicted to tv shows on DVD.


DANG IT. There's no good time to stop.....
no commercials
no opening credits
no closing credits
....no good time to stop.

DANG IT.

does life seem more busy than normal to you??

cause it sure does to me.
just seems like every second something huge is going on.
I'm exhausted.
BUT so excited for tomorrow!!!
i'm going to a Colbie Caillat concert at the Galaxy Theater in anaheim!!!
woooooo! i'm seriously so excited. I love her music!!!

Staff Training Day

So we had this staff training today...and Kurt got to give a Student Ministries presentation...which was probably more helpful to me than anyone else in the room. I've just been feeling really insignificant in ministry lately and him talking about his youth pastor leaving fingerprints on his life got me all sorts of choked up. It's not about me having it together or even being good at what i'm doing...it's about making myself available for God to work through...and perhaps leaving some fingerprints along the way....fingerprints that may not be realized until down the road....and that's okay.

i've been thinking all day about the fingerprints on my life....God is so rad. He works in the craziest, most mind blowing ways sometimes. I sure do love Him.

thoughts.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

a few of my favorite things...