What a Beautiful Day!

These past few weeks have been so hectic!
I stayed up until about 4am a few nights in a row, got sick, had a ton of homework, went on a few fun adventures and failed to keep up with my blog! But here I am again, to set it right!
I can't think of too much to say so I'll just post a picture and give a quick description!
Enjoy!

















On Saturday, I surprised Erik with an afternoon adventure to the Fullerton Arboretum (which was free!!) and we spent the day just wondering around the beautiful vegetation that is so scarce here in LA county! The picture on the right is of a cotton tree in full blossom. These were so cool because they had the most beautiful and gentle looking flowers but the entire surface of the tree was covered in huge thorns! And it had big fluffs of cotton on it!
The second picture is of Erik, he pulled this fish eye lens out of a giant industrial video camera (boy= liking to take things apart) so we had some fun taking pics with that!

MONKEYING around at the zoo!!

Alright, asking for forgiveness here in my lack of consistency already for not posting my picture of the week this last week... blaming technology issues! So there will be TWO posts this time! How exciting!!

This first picture [from the week of October 12-18] is of a Saturday Anthropology field trip. We were required to head out to the Los Angeles Zoo to study, observe and chart the primates that so closely resemble us humans, with opposable thumbs and all...
It was a really enjoyable day, despite the 96 degree weather and how hurried we were, the L.A. Zoo is HUGE and also really nicely landscaped! I plan to head back out that way someday, maybe with the b-friend in tow...

This picture kind of encapsulates it all (expect for the primates) how bright and hot and beautiful it was, the walking in our group of comrades and me being behind because of my love for photography! enjoy.


Now, for the next week [October 19-25]... this week was pretty hectic and stressful and just plain taxing. I had all my midterms within 2 days, luckily this week we had the Torrey Memorial Bible Conference on "Sex and the Soul" which is a totally different and much more involved story. Any how, on Saturday, Katelyn came out to Biola to visit and hang out. We took the Metro out to L.A. and went to China Town and Olivera Street, signed some petitions, bought turtles, ate awesome tacos, weaved through bamboo stores, spoke to folks on the train and just had an amazing time! I love this picture because it's so candid and brilliantly colored. It makes me happy. It was a happy day!

The Death of a College Student & Correlation with Mid-Terms

I think it's a bad indication of how much pain I get from studying when I'm writing a blog instead of actually studying... considering my track record with blogging and all.
October is national "mid-term" month, when all Professors think it will be a brilliant idea to issue tests all at the same time!
[you would think an individual with a Doctorate would be more clever than that. Or maybe just more nice]

So I spent a lot of time on WebMD today, diagnosing the many "symptoms" I've been experiencing and one of my results was sleep deprivation! Ya' think!?
I propose that WebMD adds a new result labeled "midterm madness".
Similar to mad cow, but caused by the excessive studying and intake of facts that need to be crammed into our brains only to be spewed out in lead pencil in bubble format on a scantron.
The symptoms would include:

- The urge to check Facebook every 2 minutes.
- The sudden desire to e-mail Aunt Nansea on the east coast and tell her ALL about your life, even though you lost contact about 6 months ago.
- Eating obscure food combinations including, but not limited to: m&m's in peanut butter, apples covered in sugar, easy mac with fruit loops interspersed, and countless cups of coffee or some other form of caffeine.
- An immediate interest in cleaning your room, although you haven't done so since you moved in almost 2 months ago.
- Deep and involved conversations with your roommate about the dark inner workings of the phrase "same difference"
- The fascination with clipping your toe/finger nails

many other symptoms are involved, possibly too many to list.
But I guess I should get back to the books now, even though, at this point, the information is just going to leak out of my head...

A Photo A Week...

Ok, I have a new plan.
Since I am such a slacker and really bad with being consistent, I have an idea to help myself out...
I've decided to title it "A Photo A Week" which should be pretty self explanatory;
I'm going to post a picture that I take each week with a little update on my life and how that photo plays into all of it.
My objectives are to
[1] be more consistent in blogging and staying up to date on my life activities and
[2] to give myself the opportunity to get out and use my beautiful camera!

I hope this is helpful for all parties involved, I'm really looking forward to it!

Here's the first photo!

It's from this past Saturday when Erik and I went to Point Dume in Malibu to go hiking, get away from the stress of campus, relax and just enjoy the company of one another. The scenery was so amazingly beautiful, it was insanely windy, especially on the point. There were people rock climbing on the face of the point, a wedding being photographed, a family building a sandcastle and us taking a nap in the middle of a walkway (which we didn't realize was a walkway, opps!) It was such a relaxing day and we got to drive through Pepperdine University which is basically built into a canyon!

Update!!

Alright, so here's a quick one for those still reading this (a.k.a. my mom)...

Just wanted to say I'm alive and well, finally all done with floor decorations, well, for now. They are satisfactory for Erin and I but the residents will be super impressed! They move in in 5 hours!!! I'm very excited for that, so much so, I can't sleep! That's why I'm up at 4 in the morning!!

But I will attempt a better update later this week when the craziness of moving in and getting all the kiddies settled dies down, but I'm doing amazing!

I should start good habits now!!

I figure that since this is my first night back at Biola and in my new room for the next year, I should start off with a blog and a commitment to be more consistent with my blogging throughout this year!
I'm extremely excited to be back, this place makes me happier than anyone could possibly ever know! Tomorrow is when all of the big excitement takes place since the rest of the RA's will be moving in... I can't wait to see everyone and get all unpacked and organized. That's when I feel the most at home.
So tonight is a little creepy just because i'm in this big dorm hall all by myself! So I'll try not to think too much about it so I can sleep a bit, but I'm just so excited!!
good night!

I got the Job!!

I was selected to be a Resident Assistant for South Horton!!

I have been working so hard to get this job for next year at school, the grueling process began in January with information meetings and a very extensive application, followed by a group process and a personal one-on-one interview with the Resident Director. The results were revealed Monday March 17th and I was so ecstatic when I found out that I was chosen for SoHo staff!!

After all the stress, doubt, heartache and nervousness I can finally sit back (at least until August when my duties officially begin) and enjoy what God has blessed me with and know that I'm on the path that I'm meant to be on! God is good!!

"Stop The Traffik"

www.stopthetraffik.com

I'm finding that this topic is coming to be an extremely recurrent topic in my life this semester:

Human Trafficking.

Did you know that in the United States alone,  there is an estimated "50,000 people trafficked into or transited through the U.S.A. annually as sex slaves, domestics, garment and agricultural slaves [http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/USA.htm]." 

I wouldn't be surprised if this was new information. Way too many people not only in the US but globally are unaware and uneducated about this rapidly growing human slavery industry. 

Yes. Rapidly Growing. And, yes, Slavery.

It has yet to be abolished like we have for so long thought. 

And not only is this an issue in the US, but it is a GLOBAL EPIDEMIC. 

This blog is supposed to be a small insight into my life for those that don't see me all that often and some may feel that this is impertinent but let me explain...

This semester I decided to get involved with an on campus ministry and the one I happened to hear about was the Social Justice Ministry with a focus on Human Trafficking. I wanted to let you all know about how excited I am to be involved with this ministry, to finally be able to take action towards righting something that I feel is so wrong! This ministry is focusing on raising awareness but more importantly, receiving training on how to actually help victims of trafficking. We are looking forward to going into inner city Los Angeles (after we have received professional training) to take action against this destructive industry! I have been itching to be able to get out and get my hands dirty and do the work of God! 

I know how easy it is to participate in ministries where the focus is solely raising awareness, these ministries are so amazing and the people that are involved in them are using their God given gifts to further the Kingdom- they are doing what they are able to do. I feel that I have been enabled to go into the field, to get my hands dirty, to do the dangerous things that others are not comfortable with. God has given me this uncontainable passion to risk it all. That is how He has impacted my life, that is how He has taught me to trust Him with everything. I have been told before that things I'm involved in are too dangerous and risky and that I could be doing just as much good around my home. Well, here I am. I'm working around home and it is a dangerous and destructive place. And I am so excited to dive in.

- Once, when the Apostles were brought before the high priest in Jerusalem, where they faced death for teaching others about Jesus, this went down...

"A Pharisee named Gamaliel... addressed [the high priest]: 

'Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men... For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God'.

His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ."

-Acts 5:17-42 [emphasis mine]

Does this mean I have to actually start acting like an adult.....??

I'm 20 years old today!!! 

I am so excited about it, parents, do not tear up. Please...

This week has been so unbelievably crazy with studying for 3 exams, working, keeping up with other homework, dealing with my dysfunctional car and all the while still trying to maintain a somewhat normal social life. So, needless to say, I have been overwhelmed and lacking sleep. Lots of sleep. 

I'll be honest, I'm being run ragged. So as my 20th birthday approached, I became disheartened because I figured I would be way too tired and busy to celebrate. I was sad that this milestone (no longer having a -teen attached to my age) would not be getting the proper celebration it deserved.

But, to my surprise....

As I was standing in the bathroom (the community bathroom), at the stroke of midnight, my roommates ambushed me with an illuminated birthday cake, a balloon and their melodious voices joyfully singing me happy birthday!! I was so surprised and overfilled with excitement!! They went on each to say 1 thing they loved about me and when they were speaking, I had a huge grin on my face! I couldn't have thought of a better way to celebrate my birthday than with the girls I spend almost every waking moment with. They are my best friends, my laughter, my support. They encourage me when I don't have the stamina, they hug me and greet me with unending love every time I see them- rain or shine, good day or bad. I have been so blessed to have them in my life and I can't believe I have 4 more years to share my life with them!!

Making the best out of the situation

In time, you'll get to know who my "neighbors" are, they are the group of girls that I spend most of my time with... 3 of them are technically my neighbors, 1 lives across the hall, but we all consider one another as more roommates!

Last week, Casey (one of the neighbors, in case you weren't catching on..) was walking back from a class and found herself in a slippery situation. The grassy "knoll" she was walking down was slick from all of the rain and she proceeded to tumble down it, quite gracefully I might add. 

Needless to say, this little tumble landed her in a foot cast for 2 weeks. So we have made the best out of the situation and decided to release some stress by painting all over her stark white cast! 

Thank God that her ankle ended up not being broken, like the doctor had originally thought, and she will still be able to join us on our spring break road trip to Aryn's house in Bailey, Colorado!

DORM!!!

Ok 2 posts in one day! This is amazing considering I have some homework to be doing....

I felt that I should at least show where I am currently living, what the set up is like, for those of you that have just been dying to know

! 

Ok, I live in a co-ed dorm (don't freak! let me explain) which, in this case, means that there are guys and girls living in the same building but are separated by each floor. For example, I live on the first floor (Olive) of the South side of the building (Horton). So I live on SoHo, Olive. There are 42* other girls that live here. On the north side, across the hall is a floor of boys. This alternates depending on which floor in the building you are on. They all have unique names. 

Alright, moving on...

I live with 1 roommate which is rare here. Her name is Irene, and we get along th

e majority of the time. Overall, she is great and I love having her as my roommate. 

On each floor, there are 2 RA's (Resident Assistants). They are all current students at Biola and live in the dorms to basically make sure everyone is following the rules and make themselves available to talk. I'm applying to be an RA on Olive (the floor I currently live on) next year. It has been a very long and crazy process so far; on Friday I have my group process and then on Monday, March 3, I have my one-on-one interview. After that, it's all up to the big guy (God, just in case...) as to whether or not this job is meant for me!! I find out on March 17th, keep your fingers crossed and your prayers constant! I reeeeeeeally want this job!! 

and here are some pics of my habitat... excuse my roommates mess. She's from Washington, she can't help it. (My area is the one with the red bed spread).

In the Beginning...

Welcome!

I would like to state my first and foremost reason for making this blog:

My mothers (yes, 2 of them!) are natural born worriers (not to be confused with warrior, which they also are, but more on that a different day. maybe.). Ever since before I could remember, my moms have done that motherly thing, you know, where they always want to know what you are doing, who you are with, how long you will be doing it, where you'll be, and that you better get home before the street lights turn on...

Well imagine my surprise when I move away to college and this still remains... (mom, take this in a good way!!) So, like I previously stated, this is mainly for my moms. Much like the Tattoo on my butt.

Just kidding.

I really hope you found that funny...

So this blog will be for those who I have neglected since moving away, those that I have difficulty remembering to call, those that I love the most and care for more than they could ever know.... this is my year round Christmas letter!

I really do love all of my family and miss them all the time but I have found that I am not very good at balancing the things in my life so I feel like this will help me get things back in order and I hope that no one takes it offensive or impersonal! Please let me know if that is the case!!

So, here is my story and a window into my life. At times it will fog up and at times it will be windex (streak free) shiny but I hope that it will help my friends and family understand how much I care for them and how much I desire for them to be a part of my life!

love you all no matter what your title...

-Katie =]