Grape juice!

Todaaaay was amazing. First of all, it was all about prayer. The message in church this morning was on prayer, in three facets: Pray alone, pray with others, and pray for the glory of God. The thing was, it wasn't one of those abstract sermons that you go away feeling good about but not really planning to do anything. It was *all* about the practical application. I was so encouraged and motivated! We people have no idea how powerful prayer is. To top that, Conejo Valley had a prayer night at EV Free. Man, was that amazing. Around 300 people showed up, all for the purpose of prayer. We gathered in small circles around the room. I hadn't ever met anyone in my circle (with the exception of my sister), but that made it even more effective. Here we were, strangers in one sense, but brothers and sisters in another, more important sense. We prayed for outreach, boldness for the Church, and productivity of the Believers. It was an intense, amazing night. =)

Secondly, this afternoon was amazing! The Welches, good friends from Santa Maria, were in town, so a bunch of families got together for lunch and SWING! Ah man, that was joyously fun. Some of the friends there have been taking the swing class at Moorpark with me, and those who havn't caught on real quick! I first learned swing/ballroom a little over two years ago, and it's been one of my favorite hobbies ever since. It was a great time to get together with a big group like that. I had the honor of dancing with Rachel, Genna, Gracie, Sara, Annelise, Karissa, Liza, and my two sisters Kasey and Keliann. I even taught a couple of them a lift we call the "chapstick", and showed Genna and Annie how to waltz. Music used ranged from The W's to Brian Setzer to oldies like Pearl Bailey (we also used Seal for waltzing). Hopefully I'll have pictures up soon!

Best photo of 08 #3:
In September, I took a short but sweet trip up north to Washington. I got to see a few of my friends in "Beauty and the Beast", and some of us got together at La Hacienda, my favourite mexican restraunt in Washington.



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(A few months ago on facebook I wrote a note with these random 16ish facts about myself. I'm pretty sure Karissa was the one that started this... I thought it was pretty funny/interesting.)

#1: I have a microwave sitting in my room. I'd use it, but it doesn't have a fuse. If you want to hear the story, just ask. =P

#2: My brother and I have two pet green monkeys named Rego and Mr. Verde. I keep Mr. Verde.

#3: If I hear/read a quote I like, I write it down on an index card and post it over my headboard (the credit for this one goes to Jeff Valentine. If you don't know him, you should). One of my favourites: "It is not given to man to begin; that privilege is God's alone. But it is given to man to begin again - and he does so every time he chooses to defy death and side with the living." -Elie Wiesel

#4: The British have better spelling. Fact. favourite and colour, especially. The "u" in there just makes the word so much richer.

#5: I'm one of those people that say they can smell coldness. If you know what I'm talking about, props to you.

#6: I like to cough obnoxiously loud when I pass people who are smoking. I consider it my contribution to saving the world from global warming.

#7: I have to get up from bed on an "exact" time. no odd numbers. If it's 7:57, I have to wait for 7:58.

#8: I'm a picky tea drinker. Sadaf and Market Spice are my favourites. ^^ and I drink my coffee black. I don't like most the foo-foo stuff Starbucks makes... their latte type stuffus is a different deal. Oh, and I love Jamba. Orange Dream Machine.

#9: Don't call me OCD, but I can't stand it when the prof/teacher doesn't erase the blackboard all the way.

#10: When I was about 10 or 11 years old, I was abducted by an alien spacecraft. (....not really. Just wanted to see if you're paying attention. ;-) and props if you get what that's a reference to...

#11: I love cheese. And pickles. And cheese and pickles together. Seriously, one of the best combination ever. And putting the olives on your fingertips make them taste oh so better.

#12: My musical tastes vary very greatly (yes, that was on purpose =p). The two only two genres that I pretty much dislike completely are rap and country (with the exception of some hilarious ones.) I think my biggest love is Indie-ish/Solo guitarist singers. OME, Blind Pilot, Alexi Murdoch, Jakob Dylan, Waterdeep, Athlete, and such. And then the not so Indie-ish but equally amazing...Coldplay, Goo Goo Dolls, Muse, Death Cab, Lifehouse, etc. #12 part B: I love talking about music..hint hint..

#13: Satisfying years worth of curiosity, I finally counted how many licks it took to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop. (513). You can be all technical, but I'm sticking with that number.

#in-between 13 and 14: In my younger years, I started a band with some buddies in the car on the way home from a field trip to the Washington State Capital. We even got one song down: "There's a path goin' along, it's a rocky rocky path, it may look bad but it's good! If you head just straight it'll be alright, cuz the Lord is at your side! Hallelujah! (x3)"

#14: I'm not that great of a gift-giver (as some of my closest friends will testify...you know who you are.) I think forgetting is my excuse. If that even is one. And I hate giving impersonal gifts. It's like saying "Here, I only love you this much."

#15: Some of my pet peeves include: companies playing on words (i.e. "We put the FUN in fundraiser!" urgugh. what the duce is a draiser?) ...bumper stickers with tiny lettering. If you're gonna put it on your car, at least make it so other drivers can actually read it. ...blow-up Christmas decorations. I punched a Santa face yesterday.

#16: This one's a bit hard to explain, but I'll try: Usually when I'm in the car, I have a beat going inside my head, and I try and match the beat with the passing lines, trees, lightposts, etc. So sometimes I get unnecessarily bugged when the driver slows down or speeds up, cuz it throws off the matching.

#17 (cuz I cheated on 10): I will (and do) got a good distance out of my way to step on a crunchy looking leaf. (and I don't like wearing shoes much. But not nearly as much as Noah Elhardt. Props, man. =)