I need a job...

Because I really do have a lot of free time on my hands and when this happens I usually have to say (or in this case write.) Let's start with the posted picture. It's my friend David at Jr. Teen camp. If he wasn't already devoted to youth ministry I would advise him to enter the slip-n-slide Olympic event (there should be one anyway.)

For those you who were anxious to hear about my choice of hair cut I chose the brave one! And while I don't have all the proper equipment to style the new hair I find it cooler (temperature wise) and much easier to manage. Speaking of temperature, does anyone else find it extremely hot in the night time? Eric and I have been sleeping with the cover of our duvet thingy (leaving the heavy feathery thing out) because our room is like a sauna. Last night we built a mattress out of blankets and slept out in the living room floor because that's where our ONE fan circulates the cool air. I wonder if we are just warming up to a much hotter August. If that is the case I am slepping in my freezer.

And do we have any one out there has any knowledge about dream interpretation? I have two reoccuring dreams, one of them visited me last night. The location is not always the same, but in this dream I am going up on an elevator and every time something goes wrong and I end up going back down, frantic and worried for my life. Because of this I am very nervous to enter a elevator in real life. Well last night I was vacationing with my family (in my dream) and one of my cousins shoved me into the elevator and pushed the button for the 50th floor! Naturally I was freaking out, but something different happened this time. When the evevatory reached the 50th floor and the door opened I was on top of the building and there was a helicopter there. It was very windy and the pilot offered to take me back down. For some reason this was very calming to me and I didn't experience the elevator malfunctioning. What does it mean when your reoccuring dreams take a turn toward the good?

And lastly, I finished the 6th Harry Potter book yesterday. I had to put it down twice in the last 25 pages because I was so sad! Yesterday I even had someone try to tell me the ending (which almost ruined the rest of the book for me) but they turned out to be misinformed (they hadn't even read the book yet.) It's very good, but as a future parent I wonder when I will allow my own children to read it. I think I will read the first one out loud to them and start from there.

If you haven't already, please take my quiz. And if you know anything about dreams, can you help me out????

I know this is kind of old, but please amuse me...

Take my Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com!

A week at Camp Yamhill...

So last week I was at my favorite camp of all times, Jr. Teen. Directed by Johno (with the support of his wonderful wife and adorable children), Jr. Teen is packed full of spiritual encouragement, water hikes, and silly campfire songs. Although the camp food this year was not up to par, I really enjoyed my week of no T.V., developing relationships with cool middle school aged kids, and getting a better glipse of God and how I can serve him.

This picutre is of my small group, my favorite part of camp. It's a chance to get to know a handful of kids that are from different backgrouds (ranging from growing up in the church of Christ all their life, to, this was their first time at a camp with a religious emphasis.) My small group partner, Justin, was also pretty rockin'. We had great discussions, played games, and got to know each other on a greater level because God was our focus.

Now although the week was awesome, I did struggle with one thing when I was there. Because Eric just transfered to the Apple Store dowtown (it's at Pioneer Place, GO CHECK IT OUT!) he wasn't able to get the time off to go to camp with me. We had only been married for five weeks and this was the first time that we had been apart. I thought I could handle it. He dropped me off at camp and I cried, but I thought that it would be my only time. I was challenged to keep my focus on my counseling duties, but I failed every night when I called to say good night to Eric and couldn't stop crying. I MISSED HIM SO MUCH!

So my surprise was this: Eric had thursday off and was planning to come out to camp for the day. On Wednesday night I was walking to campfire and I dropped a book.... when I bent down to pick it up I heard a voice say, "Let me get that for you...." It was Eric! I didn't say anything... I just went straight to his arms and cried like a silly girl. I LOVE ROMANTIC, SAPPY, TEARY, REUNIONS! Needless to say I really appreciate my husband when we are away from each other.

But even more I see that I need to be spending more time in God's word and in conversation with him because I know that it will reflect the kind of relationship that I will have with my husband (and friends, and family.) Camp is always great because to me God seems so accessible, but when I get back to the "real world" I immediately put him on the back burner. So I listen to Bebo Norman's "Walk Down This Mountain" and I tell myself, "NOT THIS TIME!" I need encouragement with this!

I took 799 pictures at camp (digital is my new best friend...) So next post look for some great slip-n-slide moments caught on camera.

If I am brave....

My hair might look something like this tomorrow! But I don't know if I'm ready to go that short, so it might be a little bit longer, not so many short layers, and more flippy up. Kind of like this:
















That is my cousin Jessica on the left and she has really cool hair. She doesn't read my blog and I hope that she doesn't mind that I am using her picture.

I hope my hair turns out that cute. If I like it I will post a picture. If I don't then I will post no current pictures of me until my hair grows back to my desired length.

And also if my pictures turned out funky please forgive me... I'm trying to figure out how to post more thatn one picture.

My new addiction...

I have liked video games for as long as I can remember. It started with the original Nintendo when my sister, brother, and I would play Mario Brothers until, I'm sure, my mother thought our brains would rot out. Luckily for us they did not and a few years down the road we upgraded to the Super Nintendo and became obsessed with the original version of Mario Cart (in all it's 3-D glory.) Still technology proved to continually amaze us with with the ever popular Nintendo 64 where the better Mario Cart was created along with one of my favorite killing games (sorry for those who are offended by violence), 007.

That is where my owning a video game system ended, until last January when my then fiance bought an X-box. Now in my opinion the only game worth playing on X-box is Halo (and it's sequal.) But one day Eric and I were at Target and found Sonic the Hedge Hog (which was originally released on Sega) for only $7.00. The game was such a steal because it had all the Sonic games on ONE cd! It sat on a shelf for several months until three days ago when I was really bored and decided to give it a try. Now when I am doing anything else (sleeping, eating, conversing with others) all I can think about is this, "I wonder if I can get to the next level on Sonic the Hedgehog 2." Even though the voice that says, "SEGA!" every time you turn it on ANNOYS me BEYOND BELIEF I still play. And sometimes I give my husband a turn.

The point of this blog.... well there is none really. I guess it's to point out to my in laws who faithfully read my blog that even though I still play video games I am still a responsible adult (really I am!)

Some random news: I am getting my hair cut on friday! Right before I go to Camp Yamhill for one week. I noticed on my one week weather forcast that it will 94 in Portland on monday and it will only be 89 in Yamhill. I'm really excited for Jr. Teen this year. It will be my first time out to camp for the summer. My friend Coleen (who just got back from being in Colorado for one month) is also coming to camp (for the frist time.)

And today is my friend Amanda's birthday. We celebrated two days ago by going to one of our favorite restaurants, Chevy's, and stuffing our faces with the free chips (they're the best!)

An overview of why I'm in Portland...

After I graduated from Cascade I was interning with the P.U.M.P church of Christ and had no place to stay. I was actually in Germany before that and when I came back to Portland one of the other interns had asked their youth minister if I could stay with them until the internship was over. They said yes, and thus begins "my story."

I stayed there for the summer and went from being a guest in their home to being a "big sister" to their three wonderful children. I really liked Portland, and this family, and the chruch I was going to, so I wanted to figure out a way to stay. I started working for the YMCA thinking I could get an apartment of my own soon, but the more I got involved with this family and the church, the harder it was for me to leave.

My internship ended, but before I knew it I had been living with this family for one year... I was comfortable, my job was great, and I finally felt like I had a family away from my own. Portland was home to me and I wanted to stay as long as I could.

To make a long story short, another year went by and God called me back to Germany, this time for the entire summer. Before I left I had packed up my room and was planning to move in with some friends when I got back. Once again my plan was not God's plan and when I got back from Germany I unpacked my room again, into the house and family that I was so familar with.

God worked on me for another two years and decided that it was time to put a man in my life. He chose a pretty good one, and even though I was hesitant at first I followed my heart and found my true love. I knew that I was transistioning into another step in my life, but I was very sad to leave the family that I had spend the last 4 years with.

Yesterday marked the day that Eric and I have been married for one month. We live down the street from our church, my old room, and the wonderful Wagners' (whom we frequently visit for dinner and games.) Last friday we even had a sleep over with the littlest Wagners' and it was a lot of fun (even thought our apartment is not big enough for 5 people to live in.)

Aren't they so cute? They all made an appearence in the wedding and were absolutely adorable! Yes, that will be in posts to come.... and that's my story.

My television career...

Yesterday I had the oppertunity to be a "runner" for a women's soccer game at the University of Portland. My friend Paul works for Mira Mobile Television and he has a lot of connections, so twice I've been referred by him to do these jobs. I didn't get to see much of the game, but something really cool did happen. Tiffeny Milbrett (who attended the University of Portland) made international history to be the 6th person to make 100 career goals. Right after she did that the game programs went up three dollars.

My actual job was quite simple. In the morning I got some ice for the snack table. Then I sat around the snack table and made sure that every thing was stocked. Then after the game I dumped out the ice in the grass. Then I went home.

On a later post I will tell about how Eric and I had the Wagner kids over for a sleep over on friday. Our apartment is quite small, so it was quite an adventure.

see post below

Florida

I will admit that the number one reason we visited EPCOT center was to answer that question that I think goes through everyones minds that hasn't been to Disney World before, which is, "What is exactly in that huge ball anyway?" After waiting in the que for 15 minutes we boarded a slow moving car that was on a track and started on a jouney of the evolution of human communication. I know it sounds kind of boring, but it was educational and had a lot of lights and moving things to keep the little ones entertained. If you haven't been or lived in the south, all I can say is that I don't really care for the humidity, just like people who aren't from the northwest can't stand the rain. It was 95 or higher each day we were there, but it was also very very humid. I will admit that the heat did make me cranky at times. But not as cranky as the time when Eric and I were waiting in line and I really had to go to the bathroom and it was too late to turn around and the wait was over an hour. No, I wasn't very happy after that.

So I heard that Florida is a great place to visit, just not in June. It's the number one tourist attraction site in the world! Taking over 5 hours to get there by plane, I sure did feel like I was in another country. I stepped off of a plane into a swamp that someone decided to build a billion theme parks in.

I don't want anyone to think that we didn't have a good time on our honeymoon. It was quite pleasant. There was a pool outside of our hotel room that we visited every night (when it was finally cooling down to 87 degrees) and just sat there, in the water, of course.

There are more wedding pictures and honeymoon pictures to come. Here's a question (for any one who's interested.) Lately I've had people come up to me to say congratulations, but before they walk away they always ask, "So how's married life?" And really I havn't come up with a very good answer to that. It's like everyone asking you, "So what are you going to do after graduation?" or "How was your summer break?" I need some good (clean) responses.

My favorite picture...

My aunt Cher took amazing pictures of the ceremony! She also put together a really cool album for us. I'm just really content right now. It's so exciting to do little things like go to the grocery store, or picking out a new shower head because our old one was just a slight dribble, or buying Raid to get rid of the ants in our apartment! It's fun to think of creative ways to reheat our left overs because we don't have a microwave. Next to come: pictures of Orlando. Stay tuned.

Here's a photo (finally)

There are so many pictures of the wedding and honeymoon that I want to share with you all, but I am starting with this one. Before the ceremony Eric hadn't seen my dress, not even a picture of it. And the day of the wedding we hadn't seen each other either. So before the pictures my bridesmaids led me down the aisle with my eyes closed, where Eric was waiting for me with his eyes closed as well. I was kind of nervous because a) what if I trip and make a fool of myself! and b) I just couldn't believe that it was actually my wedding day. So they put me in one spot and I had no idea where Eric was. He was actually two inches away from me because I heard his voice whisper, "Hey....." That's when I started crying (for the first time... there were other times during the ceremony.) I was so relieved to finally see his face (he tried to hug me, but I didn't want get makeup on his tuxedo jacket!) The ceremony was beautiful! Something I will remember for the rest of my life. I remember being really nervous when I was walking down the aisle. It was a perfect day (even though it rained and the reception ended up being in the church basement and not at Mt. Tabor Park.) My aunt Lyn was amazing making all the food. My whole family (and my in-laws) were also amazing with all the cleaning and setting up that they did. I can't believe it was three weeks ago today...