My Portion Forever

Today was one of those days when I ended up repeating to myself over and over again "The Lord is my strength and my portion forever". It might of had something to do with the fact that I spent most of the day christmas shopping and dealing with crowds and lines, which is never much fun. Fairly sure that's not really the case though. I've been going through this cycle lately that mostly looks like this: stable, unstable, train wreck, stable, semi-stable, meltdown. Thankfully, those train wreck and melt down moments are few and far in between... I am blessed to be surrounded by such wise counsel and incredible love! As I lay here reflecting on where my thoughts have been throughout the day I realize why this part of this verse kept coming back me. I started to focus on the word portion. I started to feel the weight of making such a statement, that God is my portion forever. The image I instantly got was related to food. This may sound a little strange, it does even to me! In this sense, I was thinking about how the portion of nourishment our bodies receive sustain us and fulfill us. We can't live without it. It keeps us vibrant, energetic, healthy... alive. I always have struggled with the sufficiency of Christ, wanting to find fulfillment in more tangible means. This is an area that God works quite severely with me because it is far from being second nature to me. It's more like 732nd nature to me ( if that makes any sense), which I also think is giving myself way too much credit. There are moments when I think I'm getting the hang of it and then I say, God but I want this, and need that, and don't forget about these dreams and those desires!! oh, such a finite mind I have!! Why I grapple with the fact that God knows all, God is good in all he does I do not know. The fact remains that he does know and he is good! In more ways than I deserve!

After moving away from the food related image in my head I looked up the word portion ( i know that sounds silly but i love looking up words, even the simple ones). All the definitions were just like I imagined dealing with the amount of something and piece of something. I then came to one of the last definitions given and it said, "A person's future as allotted by fate; ones destiny or lot". This is way better than my food image I had when I thought of the word. I may be a simpleton, but I had never thought of this word in this way. This took my thoughts even further than earlier because it reminded me why Christ is sufficient for me. I believe in a risen Savior! He sustains me and fulfills me with a love and hope that surpasses all things. I am cradled in his comforting truths and promises. I am guided by his teaching and wisdom. I am a member of the body of Christ, the called out ones, thriving and fighting to become more like christ everyday and even when I fall short and stumble, there is God with his strong hand demanding repentance and granting forgiveness. Absolutely brilliant. He and he alone is my portion. Forever.

Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on the earth that I desire but you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Psalm 73: 25-26

... As I live says the Lord!

This is written about the book of Ruth. This could not have come at a more perfect time for me. And I will savor and delight in the beauty of being held in the hands of an all knowing and all loving God... wherever that may lead. Blown away.

The life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, but they do get there. The life of the godly is not an Interstate through Nebraska, but a state road through the Blue Ridge Mountains of Tennessee. There are rock slides and precipices and dark mists and bears and slippery curves and hairpin turns that make you go backwards in order to go forwards. But all along this hazardous, twisted road that doesn't let you see very far ahead there are frequent signs that say, "The best is yet to come." And at the bottom right corner written with an unmistakable hand are the words, "As I live, says the Lord!"
-John Piper

"Without a why or wherefore"

I stole this from Sam Hauser's blog. You should check it out, i'm excited to see the things that come out of her new blog! Hope you don't mind the re-post Sam!

Women wish to be loved without a why or a wherefore; not because they are pretty, or good, or well-bred, or graceful, or intelligent, but because they are themselves.”
- Henry Frederic Amiel

sisters, sisters

I absolutely love this scene from White Christmas. My sister and I are always singing this song, except we don't know all the words so we just end up humming and laughing. So I dedicate this to my sister Brenda. I chose this version cause my sister and I could never be quite so graceful as the ladies in the movie... like ever. And we would definitely hit each other with large fans of feathers if we ever had them, just like they do in this video. love you sister face.

Patience? um... ok.

These past couple of weeks have been very turbulent for me. I have had to confront things that I do not understand. I have been on a constant cycle between anger and sadness and there seems to be no end in sight. Although that sounds so hopeless, it is far from how I feel about where I am at. In light of my situations and circumstances I am desperately seeking what truths God is reinforcing within me. Here is the clencher... it's patience. Oh to be patient when you want to act out on emotions and reactions. This concept of love has been prevalent in the things I have been learning. It is the undercurrent for everything and this time it carries the teaching of patience. So here I have been trying to understand how this all ties in, learning how to embrace it and not just for my peace of mind but for something bigger, more significant, something that actually has everything to do with Christ. My pastor said this, "The admonition for good behavior is not to escape persecution and not for an esteem boost but for a greater purpose."

Titus 3 has really driven this home for me this past week and a half. It focuses a lot on behavior, how we are to respond and react to people around us."Speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people." (vs. 2) Everyone of those examples are hard, especially when volatile emotions are involved. But there they are, in plain black and white... how can I do that? First, we are reminded of who and what we were before Christ, "For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating everyone." (vs. 3) Oh, but there is deep beauty in scripture because it goes on, not to tell you how, but why you should act the way verse 2 described. "But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he SAVED US, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Sprit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according the hope of eternal life." (vs.4)

Verse 4 is why we should act this way and it guides us into action. This is the reason we are able to show compassion and mercy and forgiveness and love. It is because these things have been richly poured out on us. How can we not be moved by something of such epic proportions? And something of such epic proportions will undoubtedly have some side effects.They will look like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control. This scripture reminds us of who we were and of the salvation that we were granted in that state. I have been granted salvation and hope! I love the word hope. I cling to it with a ferocious grip. It is what drives me to act in patience and gentleness and self- control especially when things feel out of control around me. I am far from doing this perfectly or well even, especially with patience, it requires a lot of silence at times and that is very difficult! Whatever the end result of situations and circumstances and the things I must endure, God is my refuge. I pray that we as believers, as those who claim that Jesus has reign in our lives, that we are producing evidence of what we've been granted to those around us, in every aspect of our lives. For me, it must be in patience. And you? What is it for you?

November 20, 2007

I awoke in very much a somber mood today. The approach of today has been on my mind a lot lately. Today, we celebrate and remember my beautiful grandmother whom we affectionately called "Lita". I can't believe two years have passed. There are still many times when I am visiting my family that I feel that she should walk through the door and take her place at the table next to her sisters. I don't think I will ever get used to being without her.

She was such a peculiar old woman. She enjoyed dipping her bread in her juice, she only liked to eat the ends of the bread loaves, she liked her tortillas burnt to a crisp, loved her drinks to be piping hot, she was THE pickiest eater I have ever known but she loved anything with shrimp in it. My Lita gave us many things to giggle about and it was so cute because she was completely oblivious to it. I miss walking into church and giving her a kiss on the cheek and sitting next to her and playing with her old woman hands. I miss a lot of small moments I often shared with her. Through all of her silly quirks of one thing we were all certain: She loved the Lord with all her heart. She was disciplined in her reading and praying. Her heart was always ready to serve and give. She was also very eager for the Lord to take her home. Each year she would say she hoped this was the year she would get to go home.

My Lita's life was a hard one. She endured much loss in her life but she was such a hard working woman. I will always admire her for her courage in being a single mom, in a new country, raising her 3 youngest kids in such a different culture than hers. She left behind a beautiful legacy and I am so blessed that God granted me as much time as he did with her.

I want to share one of my favorite stories of her. I was probably about 10 or 11 years old and we were having some kind of birthday party at our house. The house was packed with family and friends. I remember it was really loud with the chatter of adults. The house felt stuffy with the summer heat and children were running in and out of the house yelling and laughing. I walked into the house and stopped in the living room for a moment to be nosy about the conversation being entertained by the adults. Somebody suddenly said, "Carmelina (that was her name) your skirt!" I looked over at her and there she was sitting in a chair with her skirt around her ankles. There entire room erupted in laughter. My Lita was laughing so hard she couldn't even stand up to fix her skirt, so she sat there for a few minutes in her slip trying to compose herself before finally adjusting her clothes. I will never forget how hard we all laughed. I don't think she was ever able to live down that story. She never did seem to mind.

My small, beautiful and quirky Lita. I will always love her and always miss her.

someone actually snapped a picture of that moment. Makes me laugh every time.

just one... but not really

Today, I filled out a response card to a friend's up and coming wedding. In the little spot reserved for number of guests attending I filled in a lonely number one. I laugh a little at how silly this sounds, but at that moment my heart became very sad. In the true fashion of a hopeless romantic and let's face it... a bit of an emotional girl...it is hard longing for the company of the person I share so much of my thoughts and dreams with but can't spend time with the way I would like to at this moment in my life. I put a lot of effort into not letting that longing get me down or distract me and instead focus on the many wonderful blessings that are coming from this season in my life.

In one way or another this lonely moment lead me to think of what God has been showing me this past week and a half. Love and the church. It is such a monumental topic but that is where my heart has been perusing lately. At church, activities, conversations, quiet time... it all keeps leading back to this. The major connection I keep seeing when studying about the church is love. The love that God has for those that make up his body of followers and the love that we are commanded to show each other as fellow believers and members of that body (John 13:34-35) Verse 35 has a particular impact on me since this is the kind of display I long to have... that all people know I am His disciple. Many very important aspects of that love that we are to show each other have been grabbing my attention.

The love we show in how we give. Give of our time, attention, money, etc. We give to each other because we are bound to each other by the beautiful and incredible mercy God has lavished on each of us he has rescued. We understand what God has given to us and it motivates us to give to each other with complete Joy. A couple of Sundays ago this was preached about from Romans 15 (Thanks Nik Brownell!). The last part of this chapter Paul talks about this kind of giving happening between churches. "There is no example of mediocre obedience in the New Testament" that made me reflect on my attitude at where i'm giving of my time, attention and money. The way we love each other is so important that in 1 John 3:14 it says, "We have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death." And again, in verse 17 the charge to love and take physical and spiritual care for our fellow believers carries much weight. This is evidence of our belonging to Christ, that he indeed is our Lord. My pastor keeps using the phrase, "We are embedded to each other" because of what the blood of Christ has done for us. wow!

This was the deep and gripping reality that washed over me when my heart fell a little low this afternoon as i filled out that little card. I am so thankful to be surrounded with people who love with a love that is motivated by who Christ is and what he has done. I am far from alone. I am just one... but not really! and that fills my heart with joy!

I end this with one last quote from Dr. Mooney (my pastor), "When we genuinely and affectionately embrace our identity as the church, we will portray Christ as he is and convince the world we belong to him." I praise God for his providence in providing fellow believers to walk this journey with. May you look around your life and see where it is that you may be needing to love deeper, love harder, and therefore display Christ to world that he may be glorified!

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope" Rom. 15:13

Last night I heard Mark Dever speak at a Pastors conference that our church was asked to lead worship at. He said something that stuck with me, "Circumstances in our lives are God given occasions to glorify God." That has been rolling around in my mind since last night. It made the moments we spent worshipping through music all the more amazing. As we went through sound checks, went over intros and harmonies, I kept thinking that this was just one of those occasions. That was my prayer of my heart as we waited for those that would join us.

practicing sin...

This past Sunday in our bible study class, we were looking at the beginning of 1 John 3. Someone asked a question about what is meant by the practice of sinning since it is mentioned so much in verses 4-10. I have been thinking about that question all week and have been wanting to share where it lead me. This scripture mentions over and over that one who practices sin cannot be of God; "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him" (vs. 6). "Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil" (vs. 8) "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God" (vs. 9) *taken from ESV

These verses are very intense. I was reading these verses and was wondering what this means for me, a sinner by nature, a sinner who has to fight my sin and weaknesses constantly and yet claims to be born of God... what does this mean for me?

I was having a hard time understanding how or where there was difference. In class somebody commented on how something that is practiced is something that becomes habitual and as believers those are the things we are striving to break and fight everyday through prayer, reading, and studying of scripture. Someone also used sports as an analogy. Athletes practice their particular sport constantly to become better at it. A sinner who is practicing sin, becomes better at the sin increasing their love for it and decreasing the desire to fight it. The word practicing became key in breaking this down.

A few days later I came across this excerpt from John Owen in a devotional our church did together over easter talking about the symptoms of sin:

A fourth dangerous symptom is when a man fights against a sin only because of the consequences or penalty of that sin. This is an evidence that sin has a great grip on his will, and his heart is full of wickedness. A man who only opposes the sin in his heart for fear of shame among men or eternal punishment from God would practice the sin if it were no punishment attending it. How does this differ from living in the practice of sin? Those who belong to Christ, and are obedient to the Word of God, have… a deep-rooted hatred of sin as sin to oppose to all the workings of lust in their hearts… Also, this defence will not last long… What gospel principles have not done, legal motives cannot do!*

This really helped me after wrestling with this question for so many days. Here are some more excerpts of the other symptoms that are talked about:

- "firm establishment over a long period of time and settlement as a habitual practice."

How will such a person be able to distinguish between the long abode of an unmortified lust and the dominion of sin, which cannot happen to a regenerate person? And how can he hope that it will ever be any different with him when he sees his lust fixed and abiding for so long? It may be that great afflictions or mercies did not dislodge it, even though these gained the special attention of your soul. These lusts may have weathered many a storm and prevailed under the display of a variety of ministries of the Word of God. If this is the case, do you think it will prove an easy thing to dislodge such a room-mate, pleading to stay? Old and neglected wounds can prove to be fatal, and are always dangerous. Indwelling lusts grow rusty and stubborn because they have long continued in ease and quiet. Such a sin will not be easily ejected. It will never die by itself, and if it is not daily killed it will only gather added strength.*

- "Another dangerous symptom is when the heart pleads to be thought in a good state, yet all the while allows the continuance of a lust without any attempt at its mortification."

When a perplexing thought of sin comes, a man, instead of applying himself to the destruction of it, searches his heart to find some good thing so that it may go well with him, even though the sin or lust continues to abide in his heart...To indulge in sin on account of mercy is altogether inconsistent with Christian sincerity. It is the badge of a hypocrite and is “perverting the grace of our God into sensuality” (Jude 4).*

- "A third dangerous symptom is when sin frequently succeeds in obtaining the consent of the will."

When the will finds delight in a sin, even though it is not outwardly performed, the temptation is successful. A man may not go along with the sin as to the outward act, yet if he embraces the desire of it in his heart, the temptation has prevailed… Men should not think that evil in their hearts is less serious because they are surprised that it arises. It is in their neglect of watching over their hearts that causes them to be surprised.*

This was very thought and heart provoking as it really challenged me to sit and search how I may still be continuing to practice sin, what I may still have in my heart that I may be harboring and unwilling to have weeded out of my heart. We must always be vigilant of our hearts and the sin that is always trying to lure us away from God and harden our hearts, because sin is ALWAYS working against us. That is my hope in sharing this. I am so thankful for my sunday school class and how God uses it to make me think, grow and change!

* Owen, John. The Mortification of Sin. Ed. Richard Rushing. Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2005. 58-61.

getting to do what I love to do...

Meant to post this on sunday... This is our worship team ( or most of them). I love working with this group! They have hearts for the gospel, they're creative, talented and hilarious. Just one of the reasons I love sundays!

good friends, good memories!

This past saturday David came down to Riverside for his last visit before making his official move to arkansas on Wednesday. We spent the evening with our wonderful friends Kyle and Malorie in our wonderful tradition of double date at Olive Garden night! We always have such a great time with them and it was a fun evening of good food and good laughs. But don't worry Olive Garden, this isn't the last you've seen of us... we love you too much!

has it really been 6 months??

I can't believe that it has been 6 months since the last time I blogged! Sadly, this is just one thing that shows how wrapped up in myself I have become and am currently striving to prioritize my life so that Christ is my main focus and my motivation for everything in my life. Many, many things have happened in the last 6 months here are just a few:

I turned 28 this year... yes, i can't believe my late 20's will be coming to a close in a short year and a half!! but I like this age. I am comfortable and content at this age and i'm not sure what 28 is supposed to feel like, but i definitely do like it! This year I got to go to disneyland for my birthday! it was one of the best birthdays i've had in a long time!

let's see what else...

I started dating this wonderful guy.

but if you've seen my facebook you already knew that. :-)

God has blessed me with David. We have quite the journey ahead of us as he has taken a position as Minister of worship at First Baptist Church of Clarksville, Arkansas. Yes, you read that correctly. He is moving to arkansas! He is very excited to be able to serve at great church and do what he loves to do so much (that would be music, he is extremely talented). I am very excited to see this unfold in his life. It will be very hard to be so far away from him, but no matter what comes our way we pray that God will be most glorified! Please keep us in your prayers!

Another major event of the past 6 months was graduating from college. For those of you who know me, also know that school has been a very long on and off journey, very much a love/hate relationship. But I finally was able to finish up this chapter in my life. I have a feeling that school is far from over for me... more on that later. graduation was a wonderful day. I had my family and wonderful friends here to celebrate with me and I was most thankful for all of their support!

I was also able to do some really fun things this summer. Two of my favorites were going to a couple of concerts with Nikki.

We got to see Coldplay in ivrine... which was AMAZING!

We also went to see Kings of Leon... twice... back to back. They were really great nights, and awesome concerts!

All in all, these past 6 months have been filled with good memories with our amazing friends and necessary trials that motivate a crucial communication with God. God in all of his grace and mercy is working on my heart to change me so I can grow to become more of the woman he has called me to be. I am excited and challenged as we enter the last few months of this year to really strive for godliness and seek his wisdom.

Hearts and Faces

This past sunday was by far the most eventful and unique of Sundays i've ever experienced. After finishing practicing the first song in the worship set, we noticed a crack in the wall right behind us, we then noticed this nice trail of water flowing down the wall onto the carpet on stage. The baptistry behind us was overflowing and cracking and we started to freak out a bit. This flurry of activity ensued as some of us began to move all sound equipment off stage incase the wall gave out and the rest of us found trash cans to begin taking buckets of water out of the church, cause the drains just were not draining fast enough. We spent a while doing this and most of us were pretty wet by the time the water level had gone down low enough. It was crazy! We ended up having to play and sing off stage right at eye level with the congregation which was actually really really cool. Thanks to the quick thinking of some of these guys the damage was not as bad as it could have been. Can you imagine a wall breaking and baptistry water rushing out in the middle of a service!! Anyway, it was an amazing sunday. Love hearing the sound of the congregation praising God and we had a wonderful meal together afterwards. It's why it's my favorite day of the week. 

I was one of the last people walking out of the church after Pastor Jeff preached. The view was pretty cool. 

Wireless Electricity!? I kinda like the idea

(This lightbulb is powered by wiereless electricity)

I ran across this article recently. It talks about the innovative work being done with wireless electricity. That would mean no more batteries, or chargers. Things wouldn't die on you anymore because they would be receiving their electrical charges wirelessly. "The world is about to be cured from it's attachment disorder", that line made me laugh... crazy! I like the idea of no more cords and wires! I just wonder how long it will be before this is an everyday reality in our world. 

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/132/brilliant.html

Making Rummaging Possible...

On Saturday FBC Norco was having a rummage sale to raise money for the mad amounts of people heading out into the ends of the earth to tell the good news, the news of the gospel. The amount of money needing to be raised is intense, but there is faith, and willing hearts, and there are also good ideas for fund raising. This rummage sale was one of those good ideas. Setting up for the rummage sale turned out to be quite a task. No one was expecting the large amount of items donated!! It was crazy!!! Everyone kept saying it over and over, "i never imagined we'd get so much stuff!" It really got everyone excited, but as the afternoon wore on, we started realizing how much there was to do!!! Thanks to the work of resourceful and organized people, everything was done and sorted and priced (we even managed to attract some early shoppers while set up was going on) and we had some very brave men holding down the fort through the night protecting our treasure cove. It really was fun working with my very cool church family on such a fun event. It was a lot of work but i'm sure we'll all agree that we are united in hearts and desires to set God on display through the extraordinary and mundane.  Here are some pictures of all the stuff we had to sort through. 

at first, this was incredibly overwhelming!!! so many clothes!!!! but soo cool! 

sure enough, little sorted piles starting popping up.. it was on it's way! 

everyone was trying to organize all the items to make it easier to look through

i thought it looked pretty dang cool!! 

The Lone Roadtripper.

During spring break I drove home to see my family. I only drove because I waited too long to buy a cheap flight. As much as I love to travel, I do not enjoy driving, but my family is sooo worth the drive. So I hopped in the car, armed with a full tank of gas and snacks and my ipod on shuffle and made the dreaded drive. Driving for seven hours alone on the 5 gives you a lot of time to think and sing and find ways of entertaining yourself, safely of course. So after doing my thinking, and always doing my singin, i started snapping random pictures (while i kept my eyes on the road of course) so that I could see what I took when I got home. Here are some that turned out ok... oh and p.s. it was an amazing week at home. Saw some of my friends (shanny! i wanted to see you and brooke!), hung out at home, slept with my dog at the foot of my bed. couldn't have asked for a better spring break.

My survival necessities. 

all alone. no sign of life. just me and the road. 

The beautiful sunset... I really like this one. 

a lot of times... i was bored. just me. da da da. 

I  LOVE cruise control! love. it. 

AHH. almost home!!! yesss! 

i was determined to not stop my shuffle the entire trip. I listened to 146 songs (maybe skipped a few songs). and ended with the ever amazing Diana Krall

Dance crew... again.. still so good!

I had earlier posted about this dance crew that continually blew my mind... and then the video got pulled from you tube. so sad... this is another clip of that same group on the same night as the previous video (which if i ever find again i'll post it) . I like the other one better, but this one is still pretty dang good. Amazing athleticism, incredible how in sync these guys are. My favorite part...watch what the guy sitting indian style does at the end... pretty sure I sat there with my mouth hanging open for a while when i first saw this. (p.s. there are a few "micheal jackson" grab moves in the middle of the video. Just a warning.)

Oh yes. It's finally wednesday! bible study night.

Upon entering the Murray home on a Wednesday night you will encounter a few things; shoes of various sizes and colors at the entrance of the house, maybe some snacks on the coffee table (tonight was birthday cake.. yum!), babies running free giggling and tumbling out newly learned words that in turn make you giggle, and a group of people sitting around thoroughly enjoying each other's company as we examine and learn deeper truths about this phenomenal God that so incredibly grants us undeserved love in the most peculiar of ways. Wednesday nights are one of my favorite nights of the week, right behind Sundays. When I miss it, I really feel the void in my week, especially when I miss it for something as silly as being tired! I was really excited this week because I haven't been to bible study in what feels like an eternity. Tonight was a reminder of how important it is to engage in the pursuit of this extraordinary gift that God offers to man, the gift of reconciliation, the gift of love, faith and hope and how moments like this bible study, this time of accountability and fellowship on Wednesday nights is an important factor to that. I am truly blessed to be involved with such an amazing group, and I very confidently suspect that anyone that is involved with a small group from Norco would feel the same way about their group. On a much more energetic and youthful note, A wonderful element of this small group is having babies around, specifically Jackson and Hannah. These two are a riot and give us LOTS comedic relief throughout the evening. Tonight was particularly funny as Hannah decided to show off her dancing skills. Let me tell you, this little one was born with some rhythm and soul, even though Brett says he has no idea where that came from, I'm pretty sure he's secretly a dancer and has never told anyone... here's a little moment that I caught on video of Hannah putting on a show. And yes, she's on the table.. HAHA!

Dance Crew...so good!

These guys blew me away last week. The only good thing that MTV has to offer.. so cool. my favorite highlights... the headspin on top of the piano that speeds up and slows down in sync with the rest of the guys, the gnarly back bend, and towards the end the back tuck that sails over two guys.. incredible!

Brothers & Sisters Show

On wednesday night my friend Nikki and I went to see a couple friends who had a show in LA, Jessi Collins and Ryan Collins. I was really excited because I had never seen them perform before. They did this show called The Brothers & the Sisters with Daniel Bedingfield and his sister Nikola Rachelle. We had such an awesome time and I was totally blown away by all four of them. Phenomenal talent on that stage.It was a show at a small comfortable venue which I think really made the show awesome. To make it even better, Daniel and Nikola's other sister, Natasha Bedingfield (maybe you've heard of her) got up on stage and did a few songs with them. One of my favorite parts of the night was when Daniel started beatboxing and singing... AT THE SAME TIME! I still don't understand how a person can do that. It was a really, really good night. I highly recommend checking out ryan and Jessi on their myspace music pages.  www.myspace.com/ryancollinsmusic & www.myspace.com/jessicollinsmusic

not the best pics, my camera is still in the Murphy's living room, so all i had was my phone. But you get the idea. 

When tuesdays are the best day of the week

On monday my family came down to Riverside for a few days and Tuesday was such a great day. I spent the morning having breakfast with my Mom and sister,  I showed them where I live, and then my sister came along with me to school as I went to a meeting, we stopped by and said hi to Mal, which as always was hilarious... the snuggy kind of funny, my sister and I found a secondhand bookstore in downtown Riverside, which I loved, loved, loved, and then we hung out with my parents and had some dinner at a Mexican restaurant with weird art, and I mean weird, just look at the picture below. It was a really, really good day. I could not have possibly asked for a better family or a better tuesday, now if only my brother didn't live in Australia... but I can't complain. Here are some pictures of our day. 

me and my lil sis. 

29 years and their still in LOVE with each other. <3

just the girls

I could stay here all day! i love old books. 

Ok. This was at the restaurant we ate at that had weird art sculpture pieces all around, and this one had naked barbies positioned all over it... we laughed really, really hard. 

My family surprised me this weekend by planning a surprise trip to riverside! I haven't seen them since new year's! I couldn't be more excited! Yay for parents and a sister!

starting out...

I have recently been exposed to this whole blogging world in cyberspace. I don't know where I have been that I never knew about it, but I am completely captivated by it and love reading what others post! They make me think, laugh, and feel up-to-date on the lives of people around me. So here I go, new to this blogging world and a little nervous about it all, ha. But, I do love my life and the people i've been blessed to know, and every once in a while really cool things happen around me, so when they do, I'll be ready with a camera and words to share the things that come my way.