And the Winner Is....

MICHELLOPIE'S ONESIE WON THE LADIES' CHOICE FOR CUTEST PAJAMORAMAS EVER!

That might've been an exaggeration, but as someone who doesn't win many awards outside the intellectual arena this is a big deal. I won a candle yo.

Oregon Coast Retreat...mmm!

So we just got to the Oregon coast, we're in a tiny town called Canon Beach. We've been traveling since 8am on Thursday and its going to be really nice to just be in one place for awhile :)

I'm excited to see what God is going to do through these ladies this weekend, I've heard that this retreat is a super fun one. There's been rumors of ladies pranking (not the younger ones either, its been said that the 60+ ones like to do it late at night), there will be a pajama contest, a dance contest, and all-night bunko games (what is bunko you ask? good question, i'm going to find out tonight!).

This has been a hard time for me though, strange as it is I really really REALLY miss Fort Bragg. There was a moment on Thursday morning when Rhonda and I were juicing up before we left: we were at Headlands and the sun was rising and it smelled like the ocean...it was so beautiful...I looked at Rhonda and said "You don't REALLY need me to go with you.." So now i'm here, again REALLY missing Fort Bragg. :( hopefully I can wash away the homesickness with a good round of bunko and some roudy old ladies.

Goal for this retreat: Listen to God's word, worship Him, and make best friends with a 90-year-old lady who will teach me some epic pranking techniques.

Twinkies Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

NooooOOOOOOOooooo!





I'm gonna cry.

Goodbye Twinkies.
I will miss your ridiculous center.
And all the ridiculous rumors that went along with eating your fluffy cakes...
Every seven years.

Consistency is Consistently Difficult

So i put this off for too long again.
Its just...with the holidays....
then the school starting...
and the...
with the....
excuses.



So i'm here now. Sharing, as I so awkwardly do, about my spiritual life. From a blog. Because I will not use facebook. And I dont get out much these days.

Lets see: I've been reading the Bible a lot since January, the entire Bible done in one year is my goal, and the best part is that I'm not undertaking this alone. A whole mess of Godly women whom I respect (and adore) are doing it too. They make things like this look so easy. We are also all going through "Way of Agape" study together. I am not going to lie, I signed up because Diana is awesome and we were going to be reading...so that's two of my favorite things, and I just decided to do it.After reading the first four chapters I realized that this was like a....i dont know...older married woman study. I show up on saturday and REALLY realize this . So i'm hanging with a bunch of amazing, funny, older, GODLY women on Saturday....oh my life...we all know how hard it can be :)

Other than that I've been spending a lot of time ALONE.
That seems weird to say...as a young person I feel like we are encouraged to get all of our wigglies out by being outside and being loud and being in groups and being...never still.
The Lord has gotten me here by no will of my own. I'm like the dumbest little sheep that keeps fighting Him, and He keeps breaking my legs again and again. I swear...if I could cartoon for you the kind of sheep that I am...it would be one with a lot of band-aids all over its legs from all the leg-breakings.
But I'm here now. Alone. In my own apartment, doing school all day and work some nights. So it gets pretty quiet...right? WRONG
Ohmy...ooooohmy. Well the Lord has been pouring Himself over me like its nobody's business and I've been getting so blessed. SO BLESSED.
I feel like I'm in the stage of my walk with the Lord where I was off doing my own thing, found Him again, decided to commit, got married, and then totally forgot about the honeymoon phase.
I had been running around at all these Bible studies, giving my attention to other people, and just plain being distracted! But I've finally slowed the gears and have been really trying (trying...trying...DOING!!) to just be with Him and spend time with Him.
Not to make them feel weird, but its like my lovely neighbors Corey and Danielle (Kory...Korey....Corieieie...idk. Sorry man...) they got married and then fell off the social map so to speak. We never saw them emerge unless it was for work or church. It almost bothered me at first. I was always like "Wh...Eh...Uh...WHERE ARE THEY!" But I finally realize what that time is for. I need to spend some quality time with my God. I need to get to know Him, and hear Him, and worship Him on my own. I need to not fill my nights with social engagements but to rest and relax in Him. Its in these times when I have heard the voice of the Lord. Its beautiful.



I shared this with my folks last night. Rhonda's reply was, "Well, after all the coincidences started piling up 'you miss that engagement' 'you had so-and-so flake out on you' 'you were going to this persons house but your muffler fell off' I was wondering when you were gonna get it!"

again....i remind you all....sheep with band-aid legs....

Movie Tam!

So after a very very very long time....
I finally ventured back into a place I haven't thought about for a while.
Yes, ladies and gentlefolk...I saw myself a movie.

I must say, for the trash that hollywood is calling entertainment...this movie was pretty awesome.
Sure, there was the occasional joke that took it so far you just had to wince and look away, and yes, there were scenes that were purely in existence for the violence or blatant sexuality of it (ever explained, um, no...actually...)

but

like i said. pretty not bad.

I mean, this part almost killed it


but then this part made up for it


and, in the end, i wasn't too disappointed by this as a whole

XXXXXMAS????

lets take the "x" out of xmas and re-insert Christ back into it....

Oldie But a Goodie!

:) old post from a blog that is needing to be put down, this story was too good to delete

So last night i had the genius idea to plan a biking trip with Chaundel and Ryan. I kiiiinda knew that both of them were rock hard and that the closest i came to being athletic was busting out karate moves to unsuspecting shoppers at the local Harvest Market, but i went along with it anyway.

4 am this morning i’m wide awake. Maybe its because of my inherent night-owlness or maybe it was my body telling me that this was a very very bad idea.

We started out going down highway 20. As some of us out there know: Highway 20 West is almost totally down hill. This presents an entertaining contrast to the fact that going back up Highway 20 is almost completely UP HILL.

The hill, meaning “the hill”,, meaning that it needs a hilly name because of its overwhelming “hill”ness,, was absolutely excruciating. I was dying, jacket on and sun shining (i was going too slow and working too hard to try and remove said jacket) and the climax was that i actually felt a small glistening milliliter of water run down my head (i dont sweat so this: big deal). I looked up and saw the steepest part of the hill before me, my heart almost gave out.

“Come on…you can DO IT!” Chaundel coaxed

“N….*huff*….noooo just let me *huff* walk it up…”

“No way silly, we’re doing this!”

I have literally never felt so exhausted, my legs have never burned so much, i have never been so out of breath. This brings to light two facts 1) i have never actually used my body like this beyond kayaking, and that’s sad. 2) this is a perfect foil for our walk as Christians.

Every fiber of my body was ready to give up (or out…) and had i been alone, i would have given up, but i had someone beside me. That person pushed me to go harder and farther than i ever would have on my own. Jesus wasn’t kidding when He told us we needed partners. I ditched Chaundel that day, but she didn’t ditch me. She didn’t give up on me, and her expectations were (eons) higher than mine. Ladies and gentlemen: we need other Christians, and this may be fundamentally against our egos but we also need help. Even when we don’t think we do, that other person is smoothing out our rough edges and making us better.

On that note i would like to add that my legs hurt sooo bad i think i’m going to have to drag myself around the house until this afternoon. Props to C-monster and Ryan for putting up with my protests, and to Chaundel for not hugging me and making me smell like man.