The Newest Hendrixes

Spring Break on the Coast III

2011-03-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

For the third year in a row we spent Spring Break on the Oregon coast at the Warne's coastal home. Our three full days consisted of sleeping in, staying up late, Tiger Woods golf, pinochle, racehorse uno and of course Settler's of Catan. We ate lots of yummy food and just had fun relaxing with great friends! Can't wait to go again next year!

This pretty much sums them up :)

Tiger Woods golf takes over our coast trips! They spent HOURS in these chairs!

On our way home, but last stop at Local Ocean!

Snow Day!

2011-02-15T10:46:00.000-08:00

Thankfully, I can't believe I'm saying this, it snowed!!! It snowed so much that this morning the district called it a snow day. I've also been sick the majority of this year (the life of a teacher) and today I have the worst cold...so this is my snow/sick day.

I know it's been awhile since I've posted, but I'm a little upset with blogger. They said that I've reached my maximum picture allowance so I either to pay to upgrade or change blog sites, so we'll see...but for now, I have a few updates:

New Year's Resolutions: I can check off another one from my list. Every Tuesday after coaching I've been doing a half hour abs class! I've had a blast with it and will continue to do attend! So there's one off the list!

Our 2011 is filling up fast as a new year tends to do. In March for Spring break we'll take our annual vacation to the Oregon coast with our friends the Joneses for relaxation and fun. Middle of April I'm flying to CA for a quick trip for Amy, my maid of honor's, bridal shower! The first of May we're on our way back to Chico for the Wildflower century for Evan and his family. This year my parents will meet us there and my dad may even get back on the bike to ride the 60 miler. We're excited for the Sierra Nevada brewery tour and dinner after the riders finish! End of June is Amy's wedding in CA, so excited to spend a week celebrating her marriage! July it's back to Seattle for the Seattle to Portland 200 miler bike race, for Evan of course.

Well that's it for now! Happy snow day here in Central Oregon!

Goodbye crazy 2010 and Hello 2011

2011-01-03T19:26:00.000-08:00

I know I'm missing my Christmas and New Year's Eve updates, with pictures, but I will update those later. Today school started back after a fun but non-stop 2 week vacation. I asked my ESL students to write new year's resolutions 1. because it's a very United States thing to do (at least for a month) and 2. because I felt mine were so successful last year because I wrote then down, and told people about them. So, because I asked my students to write then down, I felt it was only fair that I write them down as well for 2011. I have quite a few remaining from last year, but I completed many of my big resolutions from last year too, which is encouraging for the coming year! Here they are, let's hope for a happy and less hectic 2011 filled with great memories with family and friends!

Start learning how to play the guitar.
Print off many of the digital pictures I have shot in the last 4 years.
Deep clean my car. (Done in the Spring) I need to do this again :)
Read a book a month, since I have an entire bookshelf in my house with unread books.
Find my place in church ministry.
Go back to Seattle.
Make home made croissants.
Try to blog once a week
Go snowshoeing and/or cross country skiing before all the snow melts (completed 12/10)
Go camping (finally) with Evan.
Try a new food. (completed 12/10- head cheese!)
Go to the Portland Zoo.
Pay off my Loft credit card and every other card we have.
Try a new workout class, and dedicate at least a month to actually showing up to each class. (completed 02/11, and still going strong!)
Visit a new city.
Journal 3 times a week.

Cheers to a happy and God centered new year for everyone!

Thanksgiving!

2010-12-21T13:15:00.000-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving we spent 4 days with Evan's parents eating delicious food, watching ALL the Harry Potter movies, lots of football and of course games! Here are a few pictures to document it!

The boys made ALL the food for Thanksgiving! Amazing!

Such delicious food! I wish it was Thanksgiving more often!

Buddies!

Let it snow!

2010-11-22T17:42:00.000-08:00

This holiday season is different from the last three for me, in that I am officially a teacher and with that comes the perks of Thanksgiving week off and two weeks off for Christmas! I'm so thankful to have had the job at the Loft, but I will not miss working the (insane) day after Thanksgiving, or the day after Christmas. I get to truly celebrate the holiday season with my friends and family and for that I'm giving thanks. Today as the snow is dumping, not just falling, I can finally say I like the snow! I'm cozy in my house, with the fire on, Christmas music playing and the puppies enjoying their first winter together! Happy almost Thanksgiving almost Thanksgiving everyone!

Here are some pictures of the first real snow of the season!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays! I just love the costumes, the candy and all the fun decorations. This year we carved pumpkins with our good friends the Joneses and the Johnson's! The pumpkins turned out pretty artistic I must say. For Halloween our friends the Bolling's invited us over for a costume party. Evan dressed as a much too believable hick/trucker and I was a gangsta :)

Kip Jones as a pumpkin, pretty life-like :)

Evan's beer mug and my corgi!

Scary couple!

Will Ferrel, hick, grandma from little red riding hood.

Bend finally has a fall!

2010-11-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

One memory I have missed most from California the last 3 years is the lack of a fall in Bend. The last 3 years it has snowed early in October (like the first weekend of October last year!) and ruins all the colorful leaves, leaving them brown on the ground by mid-October...However, this year, we have been blessed with a relatively warm, beautiful, snow-less fall and I'm loving it! We actually get to enjoy the trees in all their colorful glory and take walks with dogs frolicking in the leaves :)

Pictures tell it better

2010-11-06T10:29:00.000-07:00

Well, I've made a pretty nice dent on my to-do list however updating once a week fell off the wagon. So, prepare for a barrage of pictures (since we all know I take pictures of everything) from pretty much last Spring til now...hopefully I can do better updating from here on out :)

For our 3 year anniversary we stayed home, went on a fun hike with the puppies and went out to an amazing dinner at Ariana's!

Evan made me a yummy homemade chocolate coconut cake for my 25th birthday!

make a wish

great friends

Our anniversary dinner :)

anniversary breakfast!

Ben and Katie came to visit in their annual July trip, so we finally took them to Portland, one of our favorite cities!

We went to the Portland Rose Garden for the first time!

We HAD to try the famed VooDoo doughnuts! 6:00pm + 30 minute line out the door = yummy doughnuts worth the wait!

Ok, well that's a small glimpse of our fun summer! Fall pics to come :)

Wow It's been too long

2010-09-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

The last time I updated my blog, the trees still didn't have leaves and the weather was still cold...and now the trees are changing colors and losing their leaves again...I didn't keep up with #9 on my new year's to do list but I did say I would try to blog more often. Well since April, we got our new puppy Molly who has been such a fun addition to our family, I ended my long term teaching job, traveled to CA to spend time with my family, had many friends come visit us, celebrated our 3 year wedding anniversary and spent time with our small group playing games, eating delicious good and spending time in community. Now that I'm turning the fire on daily, wanting to make soups and anxiously awaiting holidays, I figured I should start writing in my blog again! Oh, most importantly, I'm officially an official teacher! It's not quite full time but I love my kids and I love having my own classroom, doing what I know God gifted me to do.

On another note, I looked back at my new years goal list, thinking that I hadn't touched more than one item, but after reacquainting myself with my goals I realized I achieved more than I thought! Here's the update:

Start learning how to play the guitar. 1a. Get a guitar.
Print off many of the digital pictures I have shot in the last 4 years.
Deep clean my car. (Done in the Spring)
Train for and run a half marathon. I just need a goal to achieve, it's part of my personality. (Completed with my dad and Evan in June!)
Read a book a month, since I have an entire bookshelf in my house with unread books.
Find my place in church ministry.
Go back to Seattle.
Make home made croissants.
Try to blog once a week
Go snowshoeing and/or cross country skiing before all the snow melts (in 6 months) :)
Go camping (finally) with Evan.
Try a new food.
Go to Picnic Day this year in Davis. (So happy we did this! Hopefully every year we can go!)
Go to the Portland Zoo.
Pay off my Loft credit card.
Try a new workout class, and dedicate at least a month to actually showing up to each class.
Visit a new city.

Pretty good for such a busy year and I still have time for the rest!

Next update with pictures, I promise :)

Does spelling count?

2010-04-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

This very well could be the world's MOST ANNOYING PHRASE EVER!!! I hear it almost every day out of my high schoolers! Unreal! Some days in my Spanish 1 classes I really believe that I'm teaching very big kindergartners... no joke. Yes I understand that they are learning a new language, but please, when you learn new words, just learn how to spell them, or at least try to come close. Like I said, I'm teaching kindergartners.

Spring has sprung?

2010-04-10T12:43:00.001-07:00

Well some days it seems like Spring here, sunny 65/70 degrees while others it still seems like Christmas with inches of snow falling. Here are some pictures from the first part of Spring so far!

At P.F. Chang's with the Jones' on the way to the coast for Spring Break!
At Chevy's in Terrebonne with the Jones' for the awesome happy hour!
Our cute baby!
Nap time!
Celebrating my job at Typhoon's!

Starbucks

2010-04-10T12:33:00.000-07:00

I love Starbucks! Anyone who has met me for even just a few minutes knows how true this is. Nothing more symbolized this than this last Christmas, when unbeknown to each other, every member of my family gave me a $25 starbucks gift card! I'm still working on them, it's great! Evan never understands my passion for "underrated coffee" in his terms. And it's true. Starbucks is not the greatest coffee. If I wanted a truly great latte, I would go to Sparrow Bakery, or Thump or Petite Provence in Portland. However, Starbucks is reliable, will be there in any city I go to and I think more than anything, it reminds me of home.

I started drinking coffee in college, and it symbolized time spent with friends. Anytime friends wanted to hang out, we went out for "starbucks dates". I think this is one main reason for my deep-rooted passion for Starbucks. Not only is it a caffeine boost, but every time I ask for my "grande caramel sauce latte" or "grande skinny vanilla latte", I'm also remembering every time Sam, Katie, Katelyn, Amy, Amanda or Carie and I went on our Starbucks dates. Those green straws and white coffee cups remind me of friends, and home. I can order a latte here in Bend and remember my favorite U-Mall Starbucks back in Davis and pretend that I'm going to hang out with some of my closest friends.

So all in all, I love Starbucks for it's reliability, consistency and most of all for the memories it triggers. Even if it is "average" coffee :)

Tengo un trabajo!!!!

2010-02-21T19:49:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, I said, "I have a job!" A real, teaching job! A high school Spanish teacher in town this last week, decided she was over teaching, got an offer to be an interpreter and up and quit! With the connections and relationships I've built in this town, I was offered the job on Wednesday morning because of the awesome recommendations from mentors of mine! I have 2 blocks of Spanish 1 and 1 block of Spanish 5. I basically had 2 days (this weekend) to organize my classroom and lesson plan since I had to wait to see where she ended up on Friday! I'm super nervous, excited and happy to finally have a classroom that is somewhat my own (she left most of her stuff which is great since I have hardly anything). I know it won't be easy, but I'm leaning on God's strength, my training and experience to get me through! I just hope the kids will like me! I'm going to have to get used ot be referred to as "Senora Hendrix"!

To-Do List Update

2010-02-14T20:53:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I started a to-do list in the next year-ish . So far it's going well. I've started training for a half marathon, it's the Dirty Half in Bend June 13th. 1a. was covered when my dad gave me his old guitar this weekend while we were in Cali for my grandpa's memorial/funeral...

I finished "The Lost Symbol" by Dan Brown and I DEFINITELY recommend it! It was a really detailed, hard to put down novel...warning though, I definitely had a difficult time going to bed when I knew that I could be reading the book. So #5 is starting off well. Also, I have been blogging at least once a week, so, so far so good on #9!

That's it for now, but pretty good I think, 4 out of 17!

As for this weekend, my 90 year old grandpa, my dad's dad, passed away a week and a half ago, so we drove down this last Thursday to be there for the memorial. It's nice to know that he isn't in pain any more...

Today is Valentine's Day and Evan and I spent it in the car for 7.5 hours and then poor Evan had to go to work for inventory until 4 in the morning tomorrow...so we are celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow instead.

But to everyone else, Happy Valentine's Day!

My Very Own Library

2010-02-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

For anyone who has ever been to our house, one of the first things they say is usually something like, "Wow, you have a ton of books"! I usually respond with, "You haven't seen our office yet"! With that said, I love books. I could literally spend an entire day in Barnes and Noble then do the same thing the next day. I just love all the knowledge, stories and newness inside every fresh smelling cover. I also was an English and Spanish major in college which left me with enough books for almost anyone's lifetime. However, because of this "minor" obsession with books, it causes me to buy countless numbers of books to fill up my shelves, but they don't always get read! Or I end up reading newer books I bought forgetting about all the other books I already haven't read. So as part of my new list of things to do in the next year-ish, one of them is to start cracking the pages of all these books I have! I'm going to make a list and cross them off and possibly review each of them as I complete them. I very much thrive under lists; they create motivation that I can't always generate without them. So here we go! I don't even know how many I have, not counting all the books that I've already read and want to read again, but I'll save that for a later post!

Lost Symbol- Dan Brown
Say You're One of Them- Ewem Akpan (I've started this one at least)
Amazing Grace- Jonathon Kozol
This Beautiful Mess- Rick McKinley
Sarah's Key- Tatiana de Rosnay
Letters to a Young Teacher-Jonathon Kozol
Redeeming Love- Francine Ribers
Angela's Ashes- Frank McCourt
Teacher Man- Frank McCourt
Snow Falling on Cedars- David Guterson
Reading Like a Writer- Francine Prose
The Glass Castle- JeannetteWalls
My Antonia- Willa Cather
90 Minutes in Heaven- Don Piper
Velvet Elvis- Rob Bell

Well that's it! It's not quite as many as I thought, but it doesn't include the list of books I still want to read that I DON'T own, but probably will. Well I'm off to start working on this list!

I'm starting with...

Part II

2010-01-27T19:59:00.000-08:00

As for the start of the new year, not much has changed. I'm still working at the Loft, teaching and coaching siwmming and applying for teaching jobs. I just recently applied for my second teaching job this year that didn't come through because the administration already knew who they wanted to hire beforehand...it definitely gets disheartening at times, but I'm trying to keep my heart open to what God wants from my life.

On a different note, I wanted to put pen to paper or fingers to key pad, what I hope to accomplish this year. My friend Christen Waller came up with 101 to-do items in 1001 days. I don't know if I can come up with that many at the moment, but here is a shortened list of places to go, hobbies to learn and accomplishments to tackle for this year and/or the year to come!

Start learning how to play the guitar. 1a. Get a guitar.
Print off many of the digital pictures I have shot in the last 4 years.
Deep clean my car.
Train for and run a half marathon. I just need a goal to achieve, it's part of my personality.
Read a book a month, since I have an entire bookshelf in my house with unread books.
Find my place in church ministry.
Go back to Seattle.
Make home made croissants.
Try to blog once a week
Go snowshoeing and/or cross country skiing before all the snow melts (in 6 months) :)
Go camping (finally) with Evan.
Try a new food.
Go to Picnic Day this year in Davis.
Go to the Portland Zoo.
Pay off my Loft credit card.
Try a new workout class, and dedicate at least a month to actually showing up to each class.
Visit a new city.

I think that's all for now. I will mark off each one as I start or complete one of them! Here's to a new decade and hopefully some change!

New Year, Not Much Change

2010-01-27T19:27:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't blogged in forever, I will blame it on the holidays instead of my lack of desire to blog. The biggest change in the last couple months is that Evan and I added a new member to our family, Jack! We love him so much and he brings so much fun and joy to our life!

We spent Thanksgiving in Pebble Beach with my family and had a fun visit with Ben and Katie too! We celebrated Evan's 26th birthday with my family up for the holidays. For Christmas we spent the holiday at Evan's parents and enjoyed a relaxing day with family and dogs!

For New Years our wonderful friends Ben, Katie, Katelyn and Charles and all their dogs came up to visit! We had so much fun going out to eat, watching movies and football, playing games and watching Jack and Hamlet play! We loved every minute of it! Here are pictures to document the fun times!

The Last 2 Months-ish

2009-10-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

It seems that it has been basically 3 months since I last updated! I kept trying to update and I would get distracted or our internet wouldn't work. So I put together a picture montage of events from the last 3 months or so, in no particular order. I will try to be better about updating!

On Halloween morning, Evan and I drove over to Eugene to be one of the VERY few USC fans at the USC vs. Oregon game. We had fun tailgating with friends and Evan's work (that's how we got the great free tickets!). Besides the rain and the terrible loss, we had a great time.

We stopped at Sisters Bakery for the first time since we've lived here on the way over! So yummy!
At the end of September I was blessed to buy a cheap ticket down to CA for Amanda Wayne's bridal shower! God definitely answered my prayers of wanting to see my college friends so much! I had so much fun hanging out with Ben and Katie in their new home and especially catching up with friends, like Amanda, that I haven't seen in over a year! I am truly blessed by these incredible friends!

On the first Sunday in October, I woke up to this scary sight! Evan was hunting with our friend Kip, and needless to say they came this morning, to not spend another night in the cold snow, with no deer to be found. Luckily it melted off the next day!
The last weekend of August, we packed up all of our things and moved to this cute, new little house! It is 3 bed, 2 bath, garage, fenced backyard, and most importantly, it has a dishwasher and garbage disposal! Yes, Evan and I have gone almost 2 years without either! We love it so much and love even more that we have more space for more friends and family to visit!
September 16 was my 24th birthday! Evan took the day off and surprised me completely by driving to Portland for the day! He had made reservations at this amazing restaurant, Francis, for lunch where I had THE BEST macaroni and cheese (above) that I have EVER had!!! Then we walked around an artsy part of Portland, then went to the mall (since we don't have a real one in Bend :) and Evan bought me this sweatshirt I had wanted so much and the cutest tall black boots that I wanted! That morning I also opened my pasta maker attachment to the Kitchen Aid mixer! Needless to say Evan spoiled me!

This the most amazing authentic Italian restaurant that Evan took me to for my birthday dinner in Portland. The waiters barely spoke English, it was like we walked into a little town in Italy, where the Italian grandpa opens the door for you and the whole family is running the restaurant!
We had a house warming part a few weeks after we moved in! It was so fun to have 20+ of our closest friends and family in Bend to hang out with!
Evan relived his IM glory days at Davis by playing with our church's softball team. He had such a fun time hanging out with friends and playing softball during the fall! In the picture is Evan, Kip and Jon, some of his closest friends here!
For Labor day weekend, Kip and Kristin invited us to spend 4 days with them on Shasta Lake at Kristin's cabin on the lake! We played in the water, played on jet skis, played games with Kip's parents and celebrated Kristin's 24th birthday! We had such a blast and can't wait to go back!

At the end of August I drove with Kristin on a last minute trip to Spokane, WA for her friend's wedding! We had so much fun, we spent the night and partied all night with her high school friends in one of the most elaborate, incredible weddings that I've ever been to! Good times and good memories!
On August 18, Evan and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary! We had an awesome camping trip planned, below are the pictures of the great camp site we picked out after we drove an hour down the road to the Cascade Lakes. As we were unpacking our car at 8:30 at night, we realized that our tent had to tent poles....after a few pictures, we decided the best thing to do was drive back home :( We ended up having a fun day, we watched Julie and Julia, went to an amazing dinner (above) at 900 Wall in town and had a couple people pay for our dinner for our anniversary!

That's all for now! I will try and do better at updating the blog :)

Crazy Storm

2009-08-08T10:50:00.000-07:00

The other night we had the craziest thunder and lightning storm I've ever seen! I literally sat mezmorized in my bedroom for at least 30 minutes watching just a part of this storm that lasted hours! God sure is amazing and powerful!

When the lightning flashed, it lit up the ENTIRE sky, it was practically blinding!

Part of the lightning.

How dark it was when the lightning wasn't flashing!

100,000

2009-08-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm probably a total dork for posting this, but my car rolled over to 100,000 miles last weekend as we were driving through the Cascade Lakes! My parents bought it for me 4 years ago, when my other car completely died in the middle of the road multiple times. This car has seen numerous trips to Oregon from California and to California from Oregon. It has had many friends, going on many trips from our girls camping trip (where PGBEIS was born, right Sam :)) to driving to weddings to driving away from our own wedding! This car has smelled like chlorine after so many swim practices and smelled like Christmas trees that Evan and I have cut down and taken home.

Thanks to such a great car that has brought so many fun memories. Here's to another 100,000 :)

Brian and Erika Get Married!

2009-07-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

This weekend on July 18, 2009 the little sister I never had got married in Chico to a wonderful guy! I have known Erika since she was only 2 years old, and I have had the joy to witness their relationship since it started in high school 5 years ago! The wedding was beautiful, I laughed, I cried, it was an amazing time to witness the start of the marriage, see great friends and family!

Jaclyn and me, before she moves from France to Germany at the end of summer!
First Dance!
First kiss and Mr. and Mrs. Tumminelli!
So happy :)

Mom and Dad

Cutting the cake and eating it! They were nice to each other :)

The happy couple! I hope they have a wonderful honeymoon on their Mexican cruise!

I Love Weddings!

2009-07-21T17:40:00.000-07:00

Brian and Erika Tumminelli! I will never get sick of going to weddings, watching a couple dedicate their lives to themselves and the Lord. My favorite picture!

MAT Graduation I forgot to post

2009-07-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Since I flew to Ecuador the day after I officially graduated, and life has been INSANE since then, I haven't posted anything about graduation. So since that day is pretty important (I graduated with a Masters in Teaching, endorsements to teach middle school and high school English, Spanish and English as a second language), something I dreamt of my whole life, I wanted to make a post about it! I can't wait until the day I actually get a 'yes' to a teaching job and can have my own classroom!

Moving!

2009-07-13T19:26:00.000-07:00

It's official! Evan and I had our prayers answered and found a new house to move into when our lease is up at the end of August! We are kind of sad because it worked out that we are moving into the house that our friends Gary and Courtney are moving out of to go to San Diego, but we couldn't be happier to move in! It is an adorable 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, with fireplace, awesome little kitchen (with a dishwasher and garbage disposal!) and a 2 door refrigerator that has an ice dispenser! It has a great sized fenced backyard so that hopefully very soon we can add corgi puppies to our family (2 that look just like the link pictures)! The rent and utilities for the new place is basically the same as our place now, so really we are getting a win win situation. Also we are just a few houses down the road from our closest friends up here who we are always hanging out with! God has blessed us and we cannot wait until moving day, September 1st!

Our house!

The kitchen!

No

2009-07-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

No is always a hard word to hear, regardless of how much you pray and prepare yourself for it. Today I heard that I wasn't offered either Spanish teaching job that I applied for. So it's looking like after all my hard work, endorsements and degree earned, I still won't be a teacher next year...I know that God has his reasons, but it's still so hard to feel rejected. Why wasn't I good enough, why don't I get this opportunity. Especially for someone like me who is already hard on myself, it's easy for me to say well yeah I guess I'm not good enough and I didn't really deserve the job. I'm just hoping that I can take this No better than others in the past and try to find the good side...if there is one.

Regardless, God is still good and still in control, of this I'm certain.

Vacation!

2009-06-17T21:12:00.000-07:00

Evan and I are so excited to leave for Arizona on Monday for a week! We will fly into Phoenix and then drive to Sedona to hang out with my parents and my grandparents. Then we are off to the Grand Canyon for a few days with the family, with one night in Scottsdale! So excited to finally get a vacation!

Yes I know I went to Ecuador but it was mostly all planned, I had to teach, study and sit in class, so I don't really consider that a vacation ;)

Blessed

2009-06-02T18:39:00.001-07:00

I woke up today, ate banana bread and drank coffee with my husband for 30 minutes. This was the most time we have had just the two of us all week. I went to work for 6 hours, came home and watched last night's episode of "The Bachelorette" that I missed.

Between Evan and I we probably have close to $80,000 in school debt...first time I ever really thought about that amount. Wow that's a lot.

We have some credit debt.

Right now I am folding clean boxers, towels and t-shirts.

We are going to have breakfast for dinner because that means that we don't have to go out to the store and buy anything to make dinner.

I have 2 bachelors degrees and a Masters, yet I don't have even close to a full time job.

My family and some of my closest friends in the world live either an entire state or entire continent away from me.

We still live paycheck to paycheck.

None of the furniture in our house matches. All of it was gratefully donated from family. The one and only piece we actually bought is our amazing king size bed.

We, who love to cook more than almost anything, do not have a dishwasher (only Evan) and do not have a garbage disposal.

We still have to fill our own ice trays.

I AM BLESSED.

I am full of joy. I have the most amazing husband in this world, who somehow I convinced to marry me, an ordinary California girl. He treats me better than I could have ever dreamed of, he loves me with a love that comes from an amazing God.

I love an amazing God who somehow, for some reason, loves a mistake-prone, imperfect person like me and sacrificed all...for me...

I have a roof over my head, even if GIANT ants and beetles make there way through the walls to torment me.

I have warmth when it's cold, cool when it's hot, food always in my kitchen, clean water from my sink and the most comfortable bed in the world to live in.

I AM BLESSED. We are blessed. I, we are so incredibly blessed.

Just a Glimpse

2009-05-28T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is just a giant collage of all my Ecuador pictures! I will post them individually soon!

I`m coming home!

2009-05-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

Today is my last day in Quito! I`m going shopping for last minute have to have goodies at the artesenal market, then packing and then headed home on the 11pm red eye to Atlanta, then Portland! It has been such an amazing experience here, and God has worked in me so much during this trip. I can`t wait to get home, see my husband, and share all my amazing pictures with everyone (I will post them throughout next week, I promise!)

Yesterday itselft was one of the most wonderful days of the trip. We went to Mindo, a cloud rainforest in Ecuador and ziplined through the rainforest. All I can say is AMAZING! We also found this couple who live in the cutest little hut in town and sell jewelrey and amazing home made chocolate items that they roast the chocolate themselves, from the trees in their own back yard!

I am so ready to come home though...Husband and Starbucks! Can`t wait!

Pictures to come I Promise!

2009-05-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

As thankful and grateful as I am that there is internet here, it is quite possibly the slowest and absolutely impossible to upload pictures! So, when I get home there will be a ridiculously large amount of pictures that I will upload, seeing as how I have almost 1000 pictures and the week isn't over yet :)

Baños and guinea pigs

2009-05-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was such a blast! We spent almost 2 days in a cute little town 3 hours south of Quito called Baños. It gets its name from the multitude of waterfalls and natural hotsprings that flow throughout the city. A few of us took a little cable car across a gorge (hundreds of feet in the air) to visit a waterfall on the other side. Then we hiked down to another waterfall called el pailon del diablo, where supposedly you can see the devil´s face in the rocks (we didn't see it). Some of us (not me) crawled into a tunnel in order to hike behind the face of the waterfall, which seemed like a neat experience, I just didn't want to get that wet.

Our hotel was absolutely beautiful, most comfortable beds and the most beautiful views. The colors of the flowers and trees around us were indescribable. Then on Saturday morning, 10 of us went horseback riding part way up the volcano that completely destroyed a nearby town 10 years ago and is still very active. It was such a fun, beautiful and peaceful time and the first time that I've ridden a horse in decades! You could see the river the volcano created and it was completely sulfer laden. Also, bubbles continue to erupt from the water as well.

My friend Denise from my cohort has been dying to eat guinea pig, or cuy as it's called, since she found it out that it is a delicacy here. So, we walked down with 45 minutes before we had to leave and found the huge guinea pigs (more like the size of a cat) roasting away, claws, limbs, teeth, eyes and all. We ordered a small plate which included the ribs, breast and 1 leg of the guinea pig with some rice and a salad on the side. Now, I swore the entire time leading up to this event that I would only go along to document Denise eating the guinea pig, but.........I thought when in Ecuador....

So yes, I did end up trying the guinea pig and to be honest, the worst part was the little hand and claws that were staring at me the whole time. I know it's cliche, but it did taste like chicken, like the dark meat of a chicken. The texture however was very thin and somewhat slimy. Overall, not too bad, but I don't know if I would order it again.

The one thing I have refused to try since staying here, is the lunch my family made last week. Cow stomach soup....just couldn't make myself try it.

That's all for now. Only 2 more days of school, Friday is a free day, so a bunch of us are going to a mini rainforest called Mindo to see hummingbirds, wild orchids, go zip lining and be as close to the jungle as we have time for.

Then Saturday night I'm on the plane back home. Red eye to Portland at 10:55am. I'm definitly ready to be home, with Evan, and Starbucks, and my bed, and to throwing my toilet paper in the toilet, not in a garbage can, not necessarily in that order, or a complete list of what I miss!

Ken`s Blog on Fear

2009-05-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

The last couple days here have been really stressful for many people in our group. 2 nights ago, a couple from our group were walking down the street at 6 o`clock in the evening, still very much daylight and were confronted by 3 men who demanded that they give them everything they had. The men even had the audacity to reach into the girls pockets, take her money, and rip of her necklaces from her neck. They stole the guy`s iPhone and money. A day earlier, a friend of mine almost had her camera stolen in the middle of the day and I heard from the same friend that she met a young Canadian woman who had been mugged in Quito twice in the last 4 days, once at gun point.

Because of all these stories, there is great sense of unease and fear. I´ve been thinking about it a lot, and trying to remember how big God is that whatever happens, He is my rock, my strength, I should be careful but not fearful. Then this morning, I read my pastors blog and he posted a very appropriate post on fear. Thanks Ken!

Differences

2009-05-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

Obviously Ecuador is a different place than Bend, Or or Davis, CA the two places I´m used to. However there are some major differences that really are quite interesting and unique...

Just because there are stop lights, stop signs and one way streets doesn´t mean that you actually need to follow them. They are subtle suggestions. If it looks faster to go up the 1 way street, go for it! There is always a sidewalk and curb you can drive up onto if a car comes your way.
If you are a pedestrian and would like to cross the street, again you can´t obey the lights. Simply wait for a break and run as fast as possible. This is reiterated in the few ¨walking` lights that are around. Instead of the normal, white, lit up man telling you cross, there is a bright green, running man saying run for your life.
If there are no parking spots along the street and you really need to run into a store or wait to pick someone up, simply stop in the middle of the street, put on your emergency flashing lights and instantly you have a parking spot!
When you use the bathroom, there is a little garbage can next to the toilet for all your toilet paper and anything else because the sewer systems can´t handle anything else but the basics...I´ve forgotten this rule on many occasions, not cool.
The bread, juice and fruit are amazing here
Everyone kisses your cheek when you walk into a room, regardless if they know you or just want to know you

That`s all for now, but I´m sure I will come up with more later.

For more fun pictures and narratives of the trip, one of our teachers has her blog that she updates often!

One of the most beautiful places

2009-05-10T12:26:00.000-07:00

On the way to Otavalo on Friday, we stopped for coffee and empanadas at one of the most beautiful places Ive ever seen!`Of course my battery in my camera died as soon as we got there, so I will have to wait to post pictures when I can steal them from my friends. But if you want to look at their website, it´s totally worth it. Need a realxing, beautiful vacation spot? Go here!!!

Dia del Madre

2009-05-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here in Ecuador, Mother´s day is very important, especially because the mothers generally cook and clean every day of the year for their families, because the husbands always work. So today is the one day that they don´t have to do either! I woke up this morning and cooked breakfast for my host mom because the dad, brother and sister don´t know how to cook! It was so fun making omeletes, fruit salad, coffee and juice for the family.

I want to say happy Mother´s day to my mom as well! I tried to call, but only left a message but hopefully it´s better than nothing!

We had an amazing weekend in Otavalo seeing the indigenous people living life and going to their incredible market yesterday morning. It was so fun bartering with the vendors in Spanish and I got some amazing deals, from the people who actually made the jewelrey, blankets, art, scarves etc. that I bought. Some men even told me that my Spanish was so good!

Es todo para ahorita

Pushups on the equator

2009-05-06T09:20:00.000-07:00

So right now I`m on a break at the school we work in, in the mornings so I thought I would blog about our trips yesterday! We left our school at 9am to start our tour of the city. We drove through the historic parts of the city with churches and cathedrals and streets that are more than 300 years old. They were so incredible and beautiful it was breathtaking. We spent 2 hours walking around, taking pictures and seeing the heart of historic Quito.

Then we drove to the top of a little mountain that overlooks the city. On the top there is an incredible statue of a virgin that was incredible. I took tons of pictures, but I may not be able to upload them until I get back home.

Then we drove to la mitad del mundo (the equator) and had an amazing tour of this little outdoor museum on the line. The guide showed us how different many things are on the equator. He had a sink with water in it and he dropped some leaves into the sink. He undid the drain and the water and leaves went straight down the drain! Then he moved the sink a few feet into the southern hemispherea and the water turned clockwise and then it turned counter clockwise a few feet into the northern hemisphere! Also we balanced an egg on the head of a nail on the equator and apparently the gravity is heavier on the equator!

Denise and I took pictures of us arm wrestiling over the equator, doing pushups over the equator in 2 hemispheres and standing by the 00``00`00 latitude line. Pictures to come!

All in all a fun tour of the city.

Quito so far

2009-05-04T17:40:00.000-07:00

So we landed in Quito not 24 hours ago and I already feel like I have entered a new world. My host family is very kind and it is forcing me to communicate ONLY in Spanish which is definitely not the easiest thing when I´m not used to it! I already really miss home and the little things that we take for granted every day like clean water out of the tap, a shower with a lot of water coming out and rules for driving!

I am really having a hard time being away from Evan. Yes I do realize that it has only been a little over a day, but it´s the prospect that we may not get to talk or really communicate other than through email for the next 3 weeks that really makes it hard. Tomorrow we have a tour of the city and then on Wednesday we start visiting/teaching in the schools. Friday morning we leave for a more northern city called Otavalo over night to stand on the equator, visit the inidigenous people´s culture and go the Saturday markets.

If I can ask for prayer requests for health/safety, homesickness and speaking Spanish I would greatly appreciate it. I didn´t realize that Quito is actually 10,000 feet above sea level and not the 3500 I initially thought, so I haven´t been feeling the greatest today with some altitude sickness. Pictures and more updates to come later.

Ciao a todos

Updates

2009-04-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

So, my Ecuador trip is finally almost here! I'm nervous, excited, sad and can't wait. I will miss Evan so much, but I know that this will be a great opportunity for me, teaching in Ecuador and traveling outside of the country for the first time ever! I would love any prayers for safety.

To update the next few weeks:

Thursday- Leave for Portland, Education graduation

Friday- Hang out in Portland with my parents and Evan

Saturday- All school GFU graduation (where I get my Masters!)

Sunday- 6am, leave for Quito, Ecuador! 12pm-ish, land in Atlanta airport, then 8pmish land in Quito. I will meet my host family and then have all day Monday to explore the city.

Monday through Fridays I will help teach in the local Secondary public school, then have Spanish classes in the afternoon (which for me might be slightly boring since I already know Spanish, but it's ok).

Then in the evening and on the weekends, we are free to travel and go where we want! My friend Denise and I already have some cool trips in mind. Since we have internet access daily at the Spanish school, I'm hoping to add frequent updates of my adventures and travels!

Sunday May 24th- Fly into Portland, 10am. We're taking the red-eye Saturday night out of Quito home, not looking forward to that!

I'm so excited for my first real travel experience! T-6 days!

Warm Day Off

2009-04-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

Today Evan and I both had the day off from work AND it happened to be one of the most beautiful days in Bend so far; 80 something! Days like today remind me why I still live here ;)
Slept in, coffee/reading date at Thump, nap, bike ride around Bend and the Deschutes river, bought new flip flops from Gap, bbq steak, hang out with friends! Couldn't be more perfect!

BBQing in our Backyard!
Steaks!
Biking Bend!

Mark and Avery Wedding

2009-04-18T09:45:00.000-07:00

On April 04, Gabe, Dianne, Evan and I all drove over to Portland to see Mark and Avery get married! Mark is a really great family friend of the Hendrix's so it was fun to see so much of the family at the wedding. The day couldn't have been more perfect. The sun actually shone and Portland actually had warm weather!

The happy newlyweds!

Wedding Ceremony
They had a cookie buffet after the ceremony in between the reception. Leaving with bubbles to the reception in beautiful downtown Portland!

Emily and Adam, Jake and Rose :)
Hendrix boys...Mark and Avery :)
Wedding reception in an old downtown theater. So beautiful!Cutting the cake :)Dancing through the nightThe next day, Portland was SO beautiful that we all decided to stay a while longer and hang out in the Pearl District.

This place below is the cutest place ever! Evan and I would totally live here!

If it was this sunny all the time in Portland, I would move to the Pearl District in a heart beat! Evan and I found this place called 'Cupcake Jones'. They only make specialty cupcakes! I had a chocolate chip cookie cupcake, with chocolate chips in the cake, piped cookie dough in the center and butter cream frosting non top.

We ate breakfast at this amazing place 'Mothers'. It's this amazing little place for breakfast downtown Portland that has amazing food, awesome atmosphere, just so cute! Apparently it's a pretty famous place, presidents like Clinton have eaten there! I totally recommend it!

My vanilla latte
Hanging out in downtown Portland near the parks

My yummy cupcake!

The end of a wonderful trip to Portland!!!!

I haven't forgotten

2009-03-08T19:29:00.001-07:00

Yes, I do remember that I have a blog. However, with the craziness of school and life, I literally haven't had anything interesting to blog about or time to write that I have nothing interesting to write about. My students in all three of my classes are great overall, I haven't had any discipline issues, it's actually been a good experience; I'm just exhausted. So with that said, I have only 2 more weeks until Spring Break, where we will spend 4 lovely days at the Oregon coast near Depoe Bay with our friends Kip and Kristin!! Then only 2 more weeks after that until I am completely DONE!!! With that said, my blog posts should be more exciting and more frequent, because 1. I will actually have a life again and 2. with that life I will have time to do fun things and time to blog about said fun things! Evan and I can't wait!!!!!!!!

Holiday review

2009-02-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

Carie and me at Powell's- a candy store that LITERALLY carries every kind of candy every made!!

Home-made sushi night!

Where the boys were most of the 5 days they stayed :)
Christmas morning in Folsom
Evan's birthday dinner!
Evan's beer making kit he opened on his birthday
Our Christmas tree!

Exhaustion

2009-02-06T21:17:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not updating out life in forever. Student teaching 3 subjects when there are only 4 blocks in a day is starting to wear on me, but I love the teachers I work with. Evan still enjoys working at Whole Foods and falls in love with his job more every day. I like to look forward to fun events coming up this year and they are what keep me motivated to get through the next 7 weeks of student teaching!

Last week of March, Spring Break: Either Napa or the Oregon Coast with Kip and Kristin!
April 04- Mark and Avery wedding in Portland
April 10- Last day of student teaching
April 8-12: My parents and Amy come to visit, see my mini graduation and spend Easter with us.
April 11- Mini- graduation
May 02- Actual graduation in Portland
May 03-23: Ecuador!
June 21-28: Flying to Arizona to spend a week with my parents and grandparents. Evan's first trip to AZ, Sedona and the Grand Canyon!
July 18: Erika and Brian wedding in Chico (basically my little sister I never had is getting married). We'll be down for a few days to see Davis friends too :)
August 18: 2 year anniversary

Soon I will add pictures from Christmas/New Years, nothing super exciting has happened since then!

Pumpkins to Christmas Trees

2008-12-06T20:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I blogged. Student teaching, grad school, work and life have completely taken over to where I'm longing for my warm bed and pillow at the end of every day! Only 2 more weeks until Christmas break though; I can't wait! Those 2 weeks will be crazy though, because as of Monday, I am the official teaching in my classroom, teaching MY lesson plans!

Anyways, Thanksgiving was a total blast with Evan's entire side of the family. Tons of food, laughter and very little sleep. I had to work Black Friday at Ann Taylor Loft and I have never seen so many people in the store before; it certainly made the day go by quickly! Today, Kip, Kristin, Evan's parents, Evan and I all went up into the Ochoco Mountains like last year and found the most perfect tree! It is finally starting to feel like Christmas. Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving and our tree this year! More to come later!

Quito here I come

2008-11-17T17:33:00.000-08:00

I graduate from from grad school on Saturday May 02, 2009 and I will be on a plane with some friends from school to Quito, Ecuador on Sunday May 03, 2009. We will be gone for 3 weeks and is part of George Fox's teaching program, but since we already graduated we don't extra credit for going, so we're going just for fun!!!! As sad as I am to not have Evan with me when I go, it will be a once in a lifetime experience and I am literally counting down the days...166 to go :)

Just a few pictures I googled of Quito. This where we fly into and will stay for most of the time!

...Can't wait!!!!

Middle Schoolers Say the Darndest Things

2008-11-07T20:13:00.000-08:00

Today marked the end of my first week as a real, live student teacher. While most of the week consisted of me observing, I did get to interact and work with the ELL (English Language Learners) quite a bit compared to my Language Arts classes. I am exhausted but somewhat fulfilled, in realizing that what I thought God wanted me to do, seems in fact what He really me to do. I don't know if that makes any sense, but since Kindergarten, I always thought that I wanted to be a teacher. From my first day in kindergarten to the day I graduated college, I said that when I grow up, I want to be a teacher! However, you never know if that is truly what you're meant to do until you actually do it. Well this week I actually did it, and I absolutely love it. While Middle Schoolers can be difficult, I have to remember how many crazy changes they are going through all at once. I also have to remember what I was like in Middle School and what I felt and then all the compassion in the world seems to just flow out of me for this age group. Especially working with the ELL kids. I truly believe that working with them is living out the gifts that God gave me, at least I like to think so. Working with them comes with such ease, I already know the names of all 30+ of them. They are crazy, funny, kind and loud all at the same time.

They acknowledge when I talk to them in Spanish, and they make fun of me when I don't know how to say something in Spanish. They work so hard trying to learn English and are just a joy to be around. I'm so happy to finally be teaching.

The Cons so far however....

Apparently, today I looked pregnant. One of my 7th grade Latinas, Dulce, came up to me as she walked into 3rd period today and asked "Mrs. Hendrix, are you pregnant?!?!" in a very loud, and serious voice. A part of me wanted to cry and the other part just said, "NO! I'm not pregant thank you very much!", in as kind of a voice as possible...
I tried, unsuccessfully, to explain prepositions to my 7th period, 6th grade ELL class today. I tried using doughnuts and clouds as visuals, all unsuccessfully. One Latino, made it very apparent that I wasn't teaching well, by expressing that opinon in front of the entire class...
One student thought I was born in the 1970's (which makes me 30 something) while another thought I wasn't much older than a 7th grader...I just can't seem to win with them.
I've had to work with 2 substitutes in the ELL classes this week as my CT was sick...both of them were a little crazy...nice, but crazy
One boy in my 7th grade Language Arts class, walks into class on a daily basis now and calls me only Jimi Hendrix...who knows how I will try to convince him to call me by my actual name

That's all for now, I'm sure more "kids say the darndest things" moments will be blog worthy quite often as my student teaching adventure continues...

I want a sticker

2008-11-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

Today, I voted in my second presidential election, but this time in Oregon. Oregon however, is the only state so far that has ONLY mailing ballots. The other option is to go through a drive-thru hut and drop them off. So, that's what I did. Also for the first time, I convinced Evan (finally) the importance of voting. With this whole process, I think more than ever, I've noticed how dangerous it is to be so far to one side or another. People of one party specifically have been down right belligerent, mean and hateful all because they are trying to support their beliefs. I don't see how you can stand for equality and peace, yet consider certain people of a different party unequal to you. It makes no sense. Ken in church on Sunday talked about the importance of truth and relevance in this life and even more so the balance of them both. He used the symbol of the volcano hole at the mini-golf course. The only way to make it through the volcano is to be perfectly down the middle. You can' get the little white ball through if you are too far to the left or too far to the right. Not saying that having no opinions or always agreeable with everyone is the right answer. But know what you believe in, without being selfish and still loving other people.

I think in faith and politics, people, especially today, in this election, are only focusing on themselves and stopped caring for others who may not be the same as themselves. I am proud to say that I voted for McCain/Palin, but I'm not about to bad mouth a person who voted for Obama. I may not agree with it, but I'm still going to love them. In my faith, I believe that Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior and that I trust in a loving and amazingly Powerful God. But with that trust, I still need to love with relevancy. Ken also said that all of the Bible is Truth, but all of it isn't relevant to everyone at everytime. You don't tell a person on their death bed about Leviticus or read a psalm talking about becoming dust. While all of it is true, that person needs to hear that God created the heavens as a better place to spend eternity and that trusting in the Lord will get him there. As this election ends, I just hope people will go back to normal. I hope that my life embodies caring for others regardless of where they stand. After all as Evan's three year-old cousin, and our ringbearer, "isn't Jesus our leader, so why do we need to pick other leaders?", refering to this election. Yes Isaiah, Jesus is our leader and that is what really matters!

Halloween is here

2008-10-31T16:19:00.000-07:00

Halloween is one of my favorite non-holiday holidays! I just love that it comes at the end of fall, half way in between my birthday and Thanksgiving. I love that the leaves have changed color, the morning's are crisp and everyone just seems happier. Maybe it's because they get to dress up and be someone else for the day or maybe it's the sugar overload, but people just seem happier. I love to see the kids dress up and so excitedly ring my door bell hoping for some yummy candy to fill their pumpkin buckets. I know that people today are trying to push for handing out toys instead of candy because it's healthier. But i'm sorry, it's one day out of the year, the candy won't hurt the kids beyond giving them a sugar rush and their parents/teachers headaches. Also, Halloween is the only designated night of the year that I will force myself to watch a scary movie...otherwise, it won't happen!

On another note, Evan and I went over the Jones' to carve our pumpkins! Evan carved a wine and cheese board onto his, I made your typical jack-o-lantern and Kip and Kristen carved the 007 James Bond logo on theirs in anticipation of the new movie coming out in 2 weeks. It was fun, we drank lemon drops, carved pumpkins, played Tiger Woods gold 09 and made pumpkin seeds. Tonight will most likely be more of the same, except adding passing out candy. I wish I was young enough to still go trick or treating!

Pictures from our pumpkin outing last week:

The last time Evan and I dressed up for Halloween. We had just started hanging out as friends! He's the one dressed in camo...
I was the opposite...a princess. Sam was a pregnant farmer...now she's a real mom 3 years later!
All of us in front of the kind of lame corn maze.

Baby, bikes and friends

2008-10-25T21:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Evan and I made the trip down to Davis with his parents Gabe and Dianne, to cheer them on in their 100 mile bike ride and to see friends and family! We spent one night with my parents and the other with our good friends Ben and Katie. We finally met our good friends' new daughter Siena and had an amazing time just catching up with great friends. Pictures speak louder than words, so....

All of us at Lamppost Pizza!

I'm holding baby Siena!

All of our friends at the UCD football game. We won by a ton!!
Pushup contest insued because of how much of a blowout the game was.
The four of us at the bike race finish line.
The weary, happy travelers

Evan holding Siena at the Sorbello house.

Tired

2008-10-21T22:49:00.000-07:00

I think I'm tired now! I spent all night doing homework for school, which didn't even include the lesson plans I need to work on for teaching! I'm so tired that I can't even download my fun photos from our amazing weekend in California visiting our friends and upload them to a post....maybe tomorrow.

Goin' to Cali!

2008-10-16T23:16:00.001-07:00

As much as I love the Fall weather here and the excitement (and workload) of student teaching, I am so looking forward to our exciting (but short) trip to California this weekend! We are getting up in the wee hours to drive down, but the 7 hour drive will be so worth it to see friends, family and meet the long awaited Siena! I can't wait. However, I am not looking forward to the drive back home on Sunday, because I have another long week of tons of homework, work and cold weather...but for now I am tired and happy to be back in Cali tomorrow, if only for 48 hours :)

SNOW?!?!

2008-10-10T15:45:00.000-07:00

As hard as it is to believe, it did in fact SNOW in Bend last night. A year ago when we moved here, it snowed for the first time in mid-October, and was the beginning of the worst winter in two decades...of course. So, I hope that this even earlier snow season, doesn't forecast the worst winter ever!!! I am so not ready for uggs, sweaters and wool coats...almost, but not quite! Although, on this VERY cold, gray and gloomy friday afternoon, sweats, hot chocolate and a chick flick does sound quite nice :)

Babies!

2008-10-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

No, don't worry, I'm not writing about us having them :) I am however writing about how it seems Evan and I have officially past the "all of our friends are getting married" phase, for the most part, and have now rapidly entered the "all of our friends are having babies" phase! It truly is amazing. Our good college friends the Sorbello's just welcomed their first baby girl into the world. Our friends Ken and Tamara are due any day for #4, our friends the Christenson's are welcoming their first baby girl Joelle, into the world this afternoon. The list truly could go on longer, but I'll stop there. It's just so funny to me how life passes so quickly. I am so thankful to have friends entering this stage of life so I can hold their babies, without having our own :) Maybe in 5 years or so...Anyways, I am thankful that I can at least be a part of all of my friends new, growing families and I am thankful to have such great friends that I can share this time of life with.

Tithing and Attitude

2008-09-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

Today in church, we had one of the hard hitting, tough to preach, tough to sometimes hear messages. Obviously, the economy is not so hot right now, and if you think about it, as it affects our bank accounts, so it directly affects the church. Since the church relies mostly on ties for income, a failing economy equals a stressed church financially. Ken Wytsma, our lead pastor, gave one of the most amazing sermons I've heard addressing what tithing is and not why the church necessarily needs us to give our "first fruits", but why God needs our first fruits. Ken portrayed the image of a farmer taking the first bundle of goods that he grew and offering it to God. It wasn't his whole crop, or some of his crop after he took what he needed, or the part of the crop that he didn't really want. The farmer gave away his "first fruits" and placed his trust in God, that He would provide enough of a harvest to provide for his family. So the farmer did this without knowing and more importantly not worrying, if a tornado, plague or drought would come along, and the rest of his harvest would be lost. He had such a strong and trusting relationship with the Lord, that the farmer wanted to give Him the first of his ripe fruit and then trust.

Ken also made the point (one that I had never really noticed) that in scripture, God asks us to bring our offering to the Lord and not give our offering to the Lord. What's the difference? You bring something isn't necessarily yours, but you want to offer it for something else. You bring a birthday gift, because the gift is not for you but for the enjoyment of the birthday girl/guy. Same with God. Our money is not our own, it is a gift from the Lord, that he asks us to give back to our community and church to help keep the community of people alive. He made the visual illustration of cutting open an apple. We eat basically 90% of the apple; the other 10% of the core and seeds (usually) goes back into the earth to recreate another apple tree, to produce more fruit. This image is the same with tithing, whether it's our money or time, we should be giving (or bringing) a portion of ourselves and income, whatever we can, back to God, because it really isn't ours in the first place.

Lastly, Ken talked about our attitude. I will be the first to say that this has been and still is a great struggle for me. I am usually the realist (or pessimist) in many situations and being married to the optomistic idealist (Evan :)) makes things complicated at times. I know that a lot of times if only I changed my attitued about situations, the situation would suddenly be a lot less stressful and upsetting. Ken used a quote which I totally believe is true, however is not always to abide by. I copied this from Ken's blog:

Here is a brief meditation from Chuck Swindoll that I quoted in a sermon this morning. It had a profound impact on my life... hopefully there is someone else out there who it will speak to as well.

ATTITUDE

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes

Today in church was just one of those Sunday's where I really feel like God wanted me to really open my mind and not just hear what He was saying but actually put it into practice.

Today's sermon on podcast

Birthday

2008-09-24T20:01:00.000-07:00

Beginning the hike
Outside 28 for drinks and dessert
Benham Falls
Last Tuesday marked my 23rd birthday. Last year's birthday was a little rough in that we had been married less than a month, moved to a strange place (for me) and had exactly zero friends. We were extremely poor and a missed my family and friends so much. Needless to say, I try to remember the year I was 22 as opposed to the day I turned 22; Evan can attest to that. Anyways, so Evan and I were blessed to be able to take off my birthday and spend it enjoying life together. Evan made me an amazing breakfast (as always)to start off the morning and then we let our tummies settle for a bit. Evan told me to change into casual clothes and running shoes. I had no idea where we were going. He packed up a picnic lunch and filled up our camelback with water. We drove about 30 min. south of Bend and ended up going on this beautiful 6 mile hike that we had been wanting to try out. Afterwards, we drove back to Bend to have a fun picnic lunch and then open presents! I was so excited that my parents gave me all of the Settlers of Catan extensions and expansions! Now we can play everything from Settlers to Seafarers with 6 people! Evan surprised me with a bag from the Kilns bookstore that I had been wanting for so long! We were so full from lunch that we went out with our closest couple friends up here for drinks and dessert! It was such an amazing and perfect birthday. I felt so blessed and so loved and I am so thankful for all that the Lord has blessed me with!

Hard to believe

2008-09-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

So two Saturday's ago, the 6th, marked one year since Evan and I loaded up the U-Haul truck and the Explorer, to start a new chapter of our lives in Bend, OR. Some days it seems like this was forever ago, and others it seems like just a couple of months ago. It's amazing how many things change in a year, and it's amazing how much God can do in a year. When I first moved to Bend, and for the first few months, I will be honest, I was really sad and depressed most of the time. I had left my friends and family in California and so many exciting things were happening. Friends were getting engaged, my mom retired, and a close friends got pregnant (and just had their baby yesterday! :)) I felt like life was going on without me, and I was left to figure out what to do with my life in a new and strange place. Evan started out working for his uncle painting, and all I knew was that I needed to be in school, working on my teaching license and masters.

My life had been all planned out before the move. I was accepted to Sac State's teaching program and Evan I were going to live in Davis...until God revealed His plans, and that he wanted us in Bend, and wanted us to serve/be a part of Antioch Church. I was unemployed for the first month and a half, missed my friends, and didn't want any part of creating a life in Bend. All I could think about was the life I was missing in California. On top of everything else, we were poor. We still are poor as newlyweds, but the first few months we were really poor. I never knew what it felt like to make dinner with whatever we had left in the pantry because we couldn't afford to go to the store. I had to cut out Starbucks (one of my favorite little things in life) and couldn't even afford stamps to mail our wedding thank you notes. I couldn't understand why God would want us here, when I was so miserable. I never thought I could be happy here and especially, would never call Bend home.

Well, a year later, I do call Bend home and I'm no longer miserable and sad haha. On the other hand, I feel like once again, God completely provided for us in ways that I never could have believed. He knew, as always, what we needed more so than we did. Evan got a job in December with Whole Foods, where he is now the Specialty Team Leader and loving life working with wine, cheese, beer and specialty foods and people on a daily basis. I am happily half way through my Masters in Teaching and teaching license program where I have met some of the most amazing people. I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. I still miss my friends and family every day, and on a day like yesterday where one of my best friends gave birth to her first baby with her husband, my heart aches some because I wish I could be there to celebrate in their joy. However, Bend is now my home where Evan and I have made some amazing friends and have made a pretty neat little life for us. God has completely challenged me this past year, but I can see now why we needed to pushed outside our comfort limits. I feel like I have grown so much to the point that even in my disappointments (see a few blogs ago) and sadness, God has a plan greater than I can see. I am thankful for my life here in Bend, and for God's faithfulness. I am to the point where I can willfully and happily offer all of me and my life to God and know that where He leads us in the future, is where we need to go.
Just a few, fun pictures from the last year in Bend.

Our first house
Deschutes River in the Fall
My first snowy winter
Cutting down our first Christmas tree!!!
Our first Christmas as a married couple!
Ben and Katie came up to celebrate New Year's Eve with us!
Evan and I were in Katelyn and Charles' wedding!

Valentine's Day!
Second Honeymoon in Napa in March

Our first trip together to beautiful Seattle and the Historic Columbia river highway
Watching the fireworks on 4th of July with Kip and Kristin

Hiking the Metolius River in Sisters with my parents who visited us for a week!

We were in Ben and Katie's wedding!!!!

So there are many other pictures that would depict our last year in Bend, however, these ones give a pretty good overview :)

Trust

2008-09-09T21:02:00.000-07:00

When I got off work yesterday, I had a voice mail from the Spanish teacher that I will student teach for, and hopefully would be taking over her classroom in November. I was filled with nerves hoping she would say that I got the job and would be her long term sub, but instead she just said to give her a call back. Long story short, she called me again and started with "Lyndsey, I have some bad news...". Essentially, I pretty much had the job until Friday, another applicant applied who has a license already and Katie Winning's words "administratively, it makes more sense to go with the person who already has a license", as opposed to jumping all the hoops to get me an emergency license.

Needless to say, I was pretty devastated, because I had let me hopes get so high, and almost expected to get the job. But as Evan, my family and all my friends tell me, it is a good experience to have gone through an interview already and to have made the connections that I did. I'm still really bummed, but I also have learned that God ALWAYS knows what is best for me and I don't. He obviously has other plans for me, and all I can do is "Trust in the Lord with all my heart and not lean upon my own understanding".

So it's back to Ann Taylor and regular student teaching, and hopefully come next April when I am a qualified, licensed teacher, I will finally have my teaching job! Or, maybe God has other plans regarding that too...I can only trust.

Labor Day Weekend on the OR Coast

2008-09-06T13:57:00.000-07:00

The Rogue Brewery!

naptime!

Aquarium!

Sea Otter, Katelyn, Charles and Us

The beautiful Oregon Coast Aquarium!!

Depoe Bay

The cute seafood place where we at lunch in Newport.

Growing up in NorCal, the "beach" to me was always rocky, cold, foggy and beautiful. I grew up going to Pebble Beach because my grandparents lived there, and it is quite possibly one of my favorite places in the world. Well, last weekend, Evan and I went for a mini-vacation to the Oregon coast, which is very similar to the NorCal coast. This was another new and fun adventure for me because I had heard how beautiful it was (like the norcal coast) but I had never been. We stopped at a cute seafood place in Newport, saw whales in Depoe Bay and ended up at the Warne's place near Lincoln City. We had a great weekend hanging out with our college friends Kate and Charles and Charles' parents. Evan and I ran on the beach Saturday morning, we went to the aquarium, ate yummy food and had a fire with smore's on the beach. It was such a fun and relaxing weekend, that we definitely were not ready to head back to the real work afterwards!

Nerviosa

2008-09-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

November was supposed to be the beginning of my student teaching. However, as of today, I still don't have a placement. I do have a placement at the high school in a Spanish class for January-April though. The teacher for that class though is going on maternity leave and needed a long term sub. Last week, my cohort leader/teacher called me with the news that Summit High still hadn't found a long term sub and that she recommended me for the position. Most student teachers give up 50 hours a week easily, without pay and dedicate their lives and time to teaching. This opportunity would be amazing because not only would I be paid to student teach, but the classroom would essentially be mine from November to the end of the school year in June.

I was "nerviosa" because I haven't had an interview that meant so much to me and had so much on the line possibly ever. That interview for the position was today. I went in praying, knowing that God knew what will happen, and that God's will will prevail, but even so, I had butterflies, like I haven't had since competitive swimming! The interview went fairly well, it was mostly the vice principal and Katie the Spanish teacher I would take over for, telling me what the job would look like. Essentially, in November I would take over the class with 2 Spanish II classes and 2 Spanish III classes. I would be a real teacher in a matter of months!

I think overall it went well, except that one of the other Spanish teachers kind of drilled me and I hadn't had to speak Spanish on the spot like that since college...So, we will see in the coming weeks what will happen, but I know God has a plan and in His strength, I will rest.

Ben and Katie's Wedding!

2008-08-27T20:44:00.001-07:00

The main reason we went down to California was for Ben and Katie's wedding. They got married on 08-08-08, so we went down a couple days before to hang out with them in Santa Cruz. We picked up a good friend from the air port who was a groomsman in the wedding as well as one of Evan's best men in our wedding! The rehearsal dinner was on the beach with a fire, hot dogs, and smores! The wedding was so beautiful and we loved it!

A collage of the wedding pictures!

Katie's Bachelorette

2008-08-27T15:46:00.000-07:00

I wanted to blog about our most recent summer trip, which was to Cali for Ben and Katie's wedding. We were down for a week and half, and the first weekend we spent at their bachelor and bachelorette parties! For the guys, they went camping in the Tahoe area and were not prepared at all for the 10 mile, 2000ft. climb they endured! Most guys were in flip flops and ended their hour long trek exhausted and blistered. All they wanted was to not sleep on the hard ground, but to their avail, one of Ben's friends' time share was completely booked. So they ate at a snooty restaurant, and then enjoyed the rest of their time around a camp fire. Evan said they had a great time, despite the pain and exhaustion.

For Katie's bachelorette party we went to the Elephant Bar restaurant in Sacramento and had a great time. She was decked out in bachelorette decorations! Below are some fun pictures from the night!

One Year Anniversary

2008-08-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was August 18, 2008, exactly one year after Evan and I got married. We didn't have the top tier of our cake to eat because I didn't think that it would taste very good a year later! However, we did get to sleep in for the first time in a long time. Evan woke me up and told me to close my eyes. When I opened them there was the cutest stuffed animal panda in front of me with a jewelry box tied to him. Inside the box was a beautiful white gold necklace with 1 diamond for our 1 year anniversary! I was so surprised and so happy! We got up and made a yummy breakfast with a frittata, home-made parfaits, and a Veuve Clicquot Champagne that we've been saving for a year to drink! It was thundering, smoky, rainy, hailing day in Bend, so we stayed inside, watched the Olympics and a movie for most of the day. For dinner, we got dressed up and went to Blacksmith, a great restaurant in Bend. We brought a 2002 Silver Oak Cabernet, for those who know, it is a very nice and expensive wine that we laid down to open on our 1 year anniversary! To sum it up, we had a great first year of marriage and can't wait for the next decades of marriage!
Here are some pictures from our day!

Back in Bend from Cali

2008-08-12T14:31:00.000-07:00

Evan and I returned to Bend yesterday after a fun filled, eventful and exhausting vacation. It was a wonderful trip in that we got to see all of our friends, all of my family and celebrate Ben and Katie's wedding! The only downside was that we got very little sleep and saw so many people that we were in a different place almost every night it seemed. We had an amazing time, and I will post pictures and more details later.

Coffee, summer, tears and weddings

2008-07-31T09:59:00.000-07:00

As I'm sitting on our couch this morning, in a quiet house, laundry spinning in the background, I realize how thankful I am that God provides us with these quiet moments. We are all such busy people, so it's nice to enjoy quiet moments, especially in the summer, with a hot cup of coffee :) My parents just left yesterday morning after staying with us for a week, and right before they arrived Ben and Katie were here for 4 days. So it's strange having a quiet, more empty house again. I am thankful that God provides us with little joys in life, that always remind me of His presence. I can't not sit here, enjoying the sun pouring through the window and not think of Him and His goodness. So for coffee filled summer mornings...I am thankful :)

I also realize how much I love weddings! After having one of my own, I also love going to weddings more so than planning them. A month before we got married last year, I totally was ready and understood why people hop to Vegas and elope; there is just so much stress in planning the wedding as the bride! However, now I can just sit back and enjoy celebrating my friends' weddings and bask in their joy! Evan and I have had the blessing of a big, tight-nit set of friends, that were in our wedding, and now we are in theirs. In January we "walked down the isle" again in Katelyn and Charles' wedding and now, a week from tomorrow on 08/08/08 we get to do the same celebrating Ben and Katie's wedding! I am so thankful that we have such amazing friends who want us to share in their happy day by being in their wedding. For good friends, I am so thankful!

Weddings are just the epitome of joyous occasions for me. I love the flowers, I love the anticipation of the bride walking down the isle, the look on her face and even better the look on the grooms face. (again this is more nerve racking when it is you walking down the isle and everyone's eyes and cameras are glued to you!) It is just so special and almost always makes me cry! I love it!

Lastly, a funny thing happened yesterday...I was actually even MORE emotional than normal and I have no idea why. I was at work, doing stock in the back of Ann Taylor, listening to a country station when Chuck Wicks' song "Stealing Cinderella" came on. I usually have tears in this song, but this time I just started crying uncontrollably...it's just such a sweet song. Than another new song came on by Crystal Shawanda called "You Can Let Go". She's singing about her Dad and different stages in her and his life and their sweet relationship/friendship. After those two songs back to back I literally had to run for kleenex because I was totally balling!! I guess sometimes you just need a good cry!

Here's a video of the "Stealing Cinderella" song. I couldn't upload the actual video, but this is still good!

Weekend Pictures

2008-07-28T09:10:00.001-07:00

Elk farm and the Sisters Mountains
Hiking the beautiful Metolius River
Sunset over the Deschutes
Anthony's seafood restaurant on the Deschutes.

Just a few pictures from the week with my parents so far...I will update more later!

Fun, Fun Weekend

2008-07-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Evan's cheese board!
Evan and his beautiful cheese board a la Whole Foods

So Ben and Katie arrived on Friday and tried to show them all the fun things Bend has to offer! We bbq'd Friday night and Saturday we floated the river! It was so relaxing and so fun! Afterwards we had our first official catering job and they helped us plate and finalize all the food! Everyone at the party loved us and one person even asked us "where did you go to culinary school? Evan's answer was "mom's kitchen" and I would have to agree! Sunday we went to church on Art Sunday and listened to an amazing sermon on how the arts are meant to symbolize God and how we can learn so much from artists! Afterward, we went and saw The Dark Knight. It was one of the most amazing movies Evan and I have ever seen. There was so much depth and character development, it was just unbelievable! It was such a fun weekend celebrating Ben's 25th and hanging out with good friends who are getting married in less than 3 weeks!

On Thursday, my parent's will be here and I hope to show them how great Bend is and how we have grown to love it!

As a side note, Evan and I have a new email address for the both of us: evan.lynds@gmail.com

More to write later!

New Blogger

2008-07-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Settler's of Catan...the most amazing game that we are so addicted to that we had to teach Ben and Katie. In the pic are our friends Kip and Kristin.
Ben and Katie and their amazing homemade ice cream cake for Ben's 25th!

Well, I finally broke down. I guess it was in part because I spend countless minutes a day catching up on everyone else's...I got a blog! Evan and I are always so busy and doing something fun and crazy up here in Bend, that I thought it was time that we started a blog as another means of keeping in contact with our friends and family. I will warn you or at least be honest, that even though it is "our" blog, I will probably do most of the updating :) Life is great right now, the weather is perfect, and we just ended a fabulous weekend with our great friends Ben and Katie who spent the weekend with us as a surprise birthday present for Ben. We are so excited to celebrate their wedding coming up on 08.08.08 in Santa Cruz! We are blessed to be in their wedding just as they were in ours! Also, My parents are coming up to visit on Thursday and are staying for a week, so it will be nice to show them that yes, Bend does have summer and no it doesn't snow right now...ok that's all for now! Ciao!