A Few December Highlights

I was going through the pictures on my phone and came across a few pictures from this month that make me smile. I am so blessed. I have everything I need, I have a family, wonderful friends who inspire me, the opportunities to go on adventures, and more. Here are a few of my favorite moments in December. Most are very simple every day kind of moments.. but those are the best anyway right?

1. (I think this was technically like november...but who cares!) SUPA cool paper mache man me and Jess found in the mountains. That day was a super fun, peacful day of exploring. One of the best adventures i've been on in soo long. We explored the ojai mountains, santa paula mountains, meditation mountain, the hills off the ave, and then ended it with DANK mexican food (corrales) and then ate chips and salsa at her house. FUN!

2. Over all Korean culture indulgence. Steph (Greenslit... i have like a mill best friends named steph) and I ate TONS of korean food and watched endless hours of our fav Kdrama "Oh! My Lady". We actually are learning a lot of the language along with the culture. Its been really fun.. especially on account of the fact that we are both major language/culture nerds.

This top picture was a fun lazy Sunday after a sleepover and a great morning at church.
This was Christmas eve. We both did no shopping until then and so we got up early filo mom'd it up at the camarillo outlets! bahah. it ended up being really fun. we found a cool thrift store too in oxnard! we dressed korean that day (just to make it more fun) and got to try out our new korean language skills for real for the first time!
3. Seattle in general. Washington in general really.
4. This was my favorite Christmas cookie I made. His name is scary-beary. Floyd liked him.
5. This entire train ride. I was overwhelmed with soo much beauty in the span of 36 hours that I could hardly take anymore in or process it.

This first picture is in the mountains in Oregon.

This is somewhere along the coast between Santa Barbara and Lompoc.

Thank you Jesus for every small and huge gift this month. I couldn't ask for more.

"I tore myself away from the safe comfort of certainties through my love for truth - and truth rewarded me."

-Simone de Beauvoir

Merry Christmas!

Today my mom asked penny what she thinks her future siblings (my sister in law is pregnant again) name should be if its a girl. Penny said iCarly.

kbgrltj,fm.dhfkljhhahhhaakjhhhahhahahahahaahksjdfhjlsbdlbkmg she kills me. i love her so much.

This is her passed out from too much Christmas fun.

"God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Take which you please - you can never have both."

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Washington...

...was most wonderful.

From Heather and Brittany

Long Live the King!!

"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.

Let Israel say:
“His love endures forever.”
Let the house of Aaron say:
“His love endures forever.”
Let those who fear the LORD say:
“His love endures forever.”

When hard pressed, I cried to the LORD;
he brought me into a spacious place.
The LORD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?
The LORD is with me; he is my helper.
I look in triumph on my enemies.

It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in humans.
It is better to take refuge in the LORD
than to trust in princes.
All the nations surrounded me,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them down.
They surrounded me on every side,
but in the name of the LORD I cut them down.
They swarmed around me like bees,
but they were consumed as quickly as burning thorns;
in the name of the LORD I cut them down.
I was pushed back and about to fall,
but the LORD helped me.
The LORD is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.

Shouts of joy and victory
resound in the tents of the righteous:
The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!
The LORD’s right hand is lifted high;
the LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!”
I will not die but live,
and will proclaim what the LORD has done.
The LORD has chastened me severely,
but he has not given me over to death.
Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD
through which the righteous may enter.
I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.

The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the LORD has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.
The LORD has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.

LORD, save us!
LORD, grant us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.
The LORD is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever."

Psalm 118.

This is the day the that Lord has made! I will REJOICE and be glad in it!!

OH! Darling

im on hold with amtrak right now, and the waiting song is Oh! Darling (beatles). its just one of those songs thats like the hardest thing EVER to not sing along too... but i cannnt! i feel like the second i do shes gunna pick the line back up! ha.

well the good news is she cant hear me dance! bahha

!!!!!!!!!!

IM FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!! dfjfdsklfjsdlgj yuoyoiyiyoiy oabalallablabalabakdfjodfgupofdigjdoobioobioobiobioyoiyoiyoirakarakakeekeekeebreebreefreeee!!!!

Now to pack and watch an episode of Oh! My Lady.

Check it:

Welllllllllllll.

One last final (cultural anthropology) stands between me and one major deeeep breath (followed by like 6 more... and topped off with a giant sigh of relief... I call it a sweet relief sundae). One day stands between me and an adventure I've always wanted to take (well, one day... and the possibility of death.. or any other unfortunate event occurring..)

Bottom line is IM ALMOST FREE! On that note, I have made a decision. My decision is this: To make the absolute most of this break!!! Seriously. I think these couple weeks off of school are a wonderful gift, and I want to go all out in the areas of fun, relaxation, and refreshment. I want to (or rather, i will) just enjoy being 20 and not carry around the weight of the world (often self inflicted) on my shoulders for a bit. I want to go on adventures, sleep in a lot, spend time with the Lord, make new friends, do embarrassing/ridiculous things that make you laugh so hard that you get scared your gunna die, laugh in general, go to the beach, draw, write, explore, make music, sleeeeeeeep ( i know i already mentioned that one), rest, be myself, sleep, cloud watch, try new things and just BE FREE!

I praise God for where He has me in life even though it is hard and confusing. I am so thankful for everything I have, and for my life (exactly the way it is right now.. all the ups and downs) One thing is for sure...there is a lot of freedom in contentment. There is even more freedom in thankfulness and in praise. Jesus is good, and because of everything he is and everything he has done, my soul is full.

oiyoyyoyooooo. kdfjgfkdjghlwiuh!!!!

R.I.P. Fall Semester. hahahhahas vdfkjlkdjg;aodsigjfkds.f .sd,..d,m?!sd,m. I think this break is coming just in time. I'm going crazy(er).

"The years teach much the days never know."

all i want for christmas is sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

...though ill settle for a trip to seoul.

oii. i can make it. just 2 more days and then i have 36 hours to rest and do NOTHING on a train. sounds like MAGIC.

''Today'' is Worth Two ''Tomorrows''

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3

In the midst of my research on the North Korean crisis, I came across this quote from a North Korean defector (newly living free in Seoul) that really made me think about how money controls so many of us, and how we are severely blinded in our pursuit of wealth.

"Shin also struggles to understand why prosperous Koreans in the South seem so uninterested in and unmoved by the suffering of tens of thousands of fellow Koreans living in torment in the North's prisons.

"I don't want to be critical of this country, but I would say that out of the total population of South Korea, only .001 percent has any real understanding of or interest in North Korea," Shin said. "Only a few decades ago, the South Koreans had their own human rights issues. But rapid growth and prosperity has made them forget."

That hits too close to home for me.

nature is AMAZING. Jesus really does use it to chip away a lot of the stone around my heart. it was SUCH a good cloud day. and now its like Singapore pouring!!!! AND thundering anddddddd i have lots of candles lit anddddddd the trees were suuuuuuuper yellow and red and fally andddddd i love living here annnndddddd ive had like a 4 day case of the giggles annnnnnnd im procrastinating on starting a 10 min speech thats due tomorrow anddddddd

and.

need a laugh?

get one here

i have been so heavily saturated with distractions this fall, but i came across something simple i wrote in a journal from last spring that really encouraged me. it is this:

"my distractions are great, but my God is greater."

sometimes i forget the battle is already won. "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." - Jesus (John 16:33)

(On being missional, intentional, and engaging the world:)

" We've got to have more than a one-night-stand with the world. We've got to be in love with them."

-Lazo

"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. The alternative to tragedy, or at least to the risk of tragedy, is damnation. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.I believe that the most lawless and inordinate loves are less contrary to God’s will than a self-invited and self-protective lovelessness…We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it.What I know about love and believe about love and giving ones heart began in this."

C.S. Lewis

"we are happy here 'cause the wild wind knows what we are"

p.s. this picture does it ZERO justice, but look what a BEAUTIFUL view of a GORGEOUS day I had today out my bedroom window today! birght yellow tree + bright green grass + bright blue sky = too good to be true!!!!!!! (2GuD2BtRoO) bahhaha

we are made for love