Thankful

Awwww....what a fitting title as Thanksgiving rapidly approaches. But seriously, I am feeling so thankful lately. I'm going to try to pack as much new life info into this post as succinctly as possible. Here goes:

1. My family is moving houses

This move has been brewing for a few years now. The combination of a huge mortgage, crash in the housing market, and my dad's decreased salary has forced us to short sale our house. It was really hard at first knowing we would have to give up our beautiful house which we poured so much time, energy, and money into. But through this whole ordeal God has taught me so much.

a. Material things truly don't matter-we can't bring our houses to heaven.

b. Home is where your family is

c. God ALWAYS has a plan for you. When we learned our house had sold we began praying that God would bring us a house to rent. My mom asked for a 4 bedroom house that was single story, safe for our grandma and dogs, close to the high school, and had a big kitchen. Literally within a week we found out the buyers of our house offered to rent us their recently remodeled home which fit our prayer list perfectly and even has fruit trees and gardening beds in the back! To sweeten the deal we won't have to move until Christmas and we actually kind of know the family. The house is right across from Sinsheimer Elementary school, just a few blocks from our existing house and very close to some friends of ours. God is so good!

2. I'm applying to only UC Davis as an Art Studio Major

Oh my gosh. Crazy how things end up right? Apart from being nervous I'm really excited. I'm so burnt out on academics that the idea of painting and drawing during college sounds amazing. I may minor or double major in something else, we'll see. I'm still plugging away at prerequisites in case I want to do something medical related after college too. Today I had to talk to some difficulties I was having with the application which I think we'll get straightened out. But on my way home from school today I started worrying about how long it might take me to graduate when I realized all of a sudden that I'm a year ahead and that I could even graduate early if I want to! All these years of being different and going the unconventional route are finally going to pay off. Thank gosh I can at last realize that! I'm so thankful for having parents that weren't afraid to go against the grain and who have helped me down a very smart educational path. I love you Mom and Dad :)

3. I went to the Father/Daughter Conference at Hume Lake

My uncle Larry and cousin Olivia invited my dad and I to go up to Hume this last weekend. We've been to the conference before but missed last year and this was the first time going with family. It was such an amazing weekend of getting to spend time with one another, hear a great speaker, good worship and have some really good conversations. Not to mention the glorious nature up at Hume! I hadn't seen Olivia in almost a year and I have really missed her. I think we're going to be able to visit each other more often now. She is one of the most treasured people in my life. Love you Livi!

So even though life is still a little stressful at the moment I'm so thankful for my family, my old and new friends, and the direction God is taking me in life.

xoxox Evie

Fun stuff

Cake Pops!

We made Lauren walk up the stairs and ACT surprised, hahah!

This last weekend was a busy one! It was my dad's birthday on Saturday and for years I have been trying to convince him to go to California Adventures for his birthday because he has never gone before. My plan at last came to fruition. Muaaa! Just kidding. We drove down to L.A late Thursday night and then spent all day at Disneyland and California Adventures. It was very uncrowded (so nice). Unfortunately Disneyland is definitely better in my childhood memories but getting to finally spend some quality family time was really nice. We stayed with our friends the Wiricks in Orange County. They are such an awesome family and we enjoyed every second of our time with them. On Saturday we went back to California Adventures for a couple hours and rode the rafting ride 3 times in a row. Sadly I must report that California Adventures is going to the dogs. They have eliminated my mom's favorite fountain, the Giant Orange, the cool metal sun on the ferris wheel, Mulholland Madness, and the Maliboomer. They are making it less California-y and more Disneylandish. Oh well.

After speeding home on Sunday I had exactly one hour to get ready for Lauren's surprise party that I was throwing. It turned out really well. It was a Super Hero themed dance party and I made all of Lauren's favorite desserts. The Funfetti Cupcake Cake Pops turned out super cute if I do say so myself! Unfortunately Lauren wasn't truly surprised...she said my texts inviting her to watch Batman were "too formal." Ok so maybe planning surprise parties is not my expertise, at least for people as "witty" (Wesley's words) as Lauren :)

10-10-10

Phew! What a week. I'm currently sitting at Shelby Patty's dorm desk at Wheaton College. Sarah Phillips and I set out for our midwest adventure on Wednesday. We drove down to LA and stayed with Hannah Bredberg for the night. We actually stopped by UCSB on the way down to visit Kelsey O'Brien for a little while also. So far our travels have been so smooth. It was quite the task planning the traveling details a few months ago but everything has worked out perfectly. A van from Hillsdale College met us at the Detroit airport. The drive to Hillsdale was amazing. We sped past quaint farms with picturesque red barns and hundreds of beautiful fall trees! All of the leaves have turned yellow, red, and orange. My brother was actually in Michigan as well for the Michigan vs. Michagan State football game. We were texting back and forth about how pretty the state was.
Sarah and I had a wonderful time at Hillsdale. I felt like I had stepped back in time. The tiny campus was just gorgeous. We got a tour, had a meeting with an admissions person, attended some classes and got to hang out with one of my best friends Emily Johnston. Everyone there was so friendly. I kind of felt like I was on a different planet. We were driven early Saturday morning to Jackso0n, MI where we caught an Amtrak train to Chicago. Unfortunatley we experienced two delays but we made it into Union Station eventually. Shelby and Eli were waiting for us. Eli was our official Chicago tour guide. The city was beautiful. It reminded me very much of New York City but some people argue that it's cleaner. We went to Millenium park, played in the fountain, ate yummy Italian food (Giordano's Deep Dish Pizza had way too long of a wait) saw the Moody Bible Institute where Eli goes to school and just enjoyed each other's company.
At the end of the day we took a commuter train out of Chicago and into Wheaton. After getting settled in Shelby's dorm we had fun eating ice cream and getting to meet her friends. This week has been go go go and I definitely nodded off multiple times during church this morning. Now we're just relaxing in Shelby's dorm until we walk downtown.
This trip has given me a ton to think about. Do I like big schools or little schools? Do I want to go to school in California or out of state. So many decisions to make. It has been a little annoying how we keep getting mistaken for high school students and then have to explain that we are really freshmen who go to our local junior college but plan on transfering. Also all of our college friends have made so many new friends and relationships that we are getting anxious to make some of our own as well.
Sarah- I love you so much. I honestly don't know what I would do without you. God has blessed me so much by keeping you in my life this year. I know He has awesome plans for us both. We just need to hang in there and trust Him. Love you, xoxoxoxo
I'm trying not to think about the huge Physiology test and Sociology test I have awaiting me at home. The work just never ends I guess. But I'm so thankful I've had the opportunity to go on this trip. It has been awesome.
xoxoxo Evelyn

The Studly Group

The cables were definitely scary

Too bad Wes isn't in the picture, it would have made a perfect Christmas Card!

Half Dome

What an adventure I had this weekend! My parents and I, along with 4 of my friends drove up to Yosemite on Friday night. We planned the trip around the full moon because we had decided to hike it at night! Some road work delayed us by a few hours so it was 1am when we got on the trail. Hiking at night is my new favorite thing. It was the perfect temperature and something about the dark just helped me keep chugging along. A five-hour energy may have contributed too, hehe. We reached the bottom of the cables at 5:30am, just as light was creeping over the mountains. The cables loomed before us, inducing a small panic attack because they looked vertical. But we soon found out that was an optical illusion. Somehow we survived the 70 degree angle climb to the summit.

The view from the top was spectacular. Every few minutes the light would change and illuminate a new section of the valley. Watching the sun rise was really special. I felt like a conquerer. We spent about an hour on top and then headed down the cables. The hike down was hot and hard. Hundreds of people were hiking up the trail by the early afternoon. I felt like I was in China or something. So many tourists! Because we had hiked up in the dark, I didn't recognize many parts of the trail and kept thinking we were almost back-but of course we weren't! It was such a relief to finally reach the car.

Though I had been awake for 38 hours and had been hiking for 14 I still somehow had energy. It was crazy! Usually I get sick, or feel awful when I am sleep deprived but God granted me some kind of supernatural wakefulness over the weekend :)

Tonight I went to Campus Crusade. As we were worshipping all I could think of was the view from Half Dome. God is so evident in His creation! Sometimes I wish I could just live in the mountains for a while, constantly surrounded by God's beautiful nature. Yosemite is AMAZING but SLO is pretty awesome too.

Too much to think about

Aaaaa! I have so many thoughts swimming around in my mind but I don't want to overwhelm you all. I'll try to make this as organized as possible...
Today I went to my only Monday class-creative writing. We had a guest speaker who is a poet from Boston. His name was Fred, he looked exactly like Bilbo Baggins, and seemed to be the sweetest old man. It was really encouraging and strangely soothing to listen to his advice for young writers. All of a sudden I started tearing up in the middle of class. I found myself wishing I had a grandfather like him. My mom's dad died of lung cancer when I was two and my dad's dad is off in Nevada at a retirement home living in dementia ridden, "fake married" bliss. Long story. Sometimes I think about what it would be like to have a grandpa who actually poured himself into my life, giving me wisdom, hugs and all that mushy stuff. But oh well. I know my dad will be the greatest grandpa someday and hopefully my future husband will be too :)
I also spent a large portion of my day discovering the beaty of Etsy.com. My cousin Mindy and her friend just opened their own shop. It is super cute! I actually bought two items to give to my friend for her Birthday! You should definitely check it out. They go by the name "Two little doves" and "Lost in the Attic" on Etsy.com. There is a link to their site under my blogs. After surfing the cyber world all day I started wondering if I should try to sell my cards on Etsy. Then my mom got me thinking that I could make custom charcoal drawings of people's 3D ultrasound pictures. I've done one for my Grandma's hair dresser and it turned out super awesome. But no one can ever tell what it is. My mom is convinced that moms would love that sort of thing. What do you think? Maybe someday I'll get around to making that happen. Hahah.
The other night I had a mini breakdown about college. It seems like such an imporant choice! I still don't know where I want to go and what I want to major in. And I need to start applying! Prayer that I would trust in the Lord's plan and see choosing a college and major as an adventure would be greatly appreciated :) I just get so conflicted when it comes to career choice. Some people say not to turn your passion into a job because then it will be "work". Others say that you have to be passionate about your job or you will be miserable at work. Which is it????? For some reason I can't find a major that just jumps out as the perfect major for me. I'm considering majoring in something fun like art and then applying to P.A or medical school later. But I want to be able to graduate college with a marketable skill-especially in this sucky economy. It's all just incredibly overwhelming. But I know God has it under control somehow!
Ok I think I've overwhelmed you with enough for tonight.
xoxoxo Evie