Nogfest

The winning gingerbread house- not mine or Raleigh's- but it was really, really good!
Above: Raleigh and Alex. Below: My small group's house. Supposed to be the Polar Express theme...
A group of people from Nogfest!
Raleigh and Ryan.
So last year, when Christmas came around, Raleigh and I had only been down here for a few months. We decided to do this big Christmas party called Nogfest. We watch a Christmas movie, everyone who wants to brings a decorated gingerbread house (it's a voting contest), we have an "ugliest sweater" contest, and there are lots of other prizes, food, and of course, eggnog. It was a hit last year, and I'd say it went over pretty well again this year. We really had a great time.

And, I am so happy for today! Thank you Lord for a Saturday where there's nothing on the calendar. I can honestly say that this hasn't happened since..September or August, can't remember exactly when, but it's been SO long. So Raleigh and I are just catching up on some housework, and this afternoon will do our Christmas shopping! On Monday we are taking off for Oregon so that is really exciting too. That's all for now!

So many updates!

The birthday dinner that Raleigh made- and he brought roses!
Raleigh's gift. A spa package that he made! I'm impressed.
Raleigh making dinner! :)


So many things have happened in the last week, it's kinda crazy. Today is my birthday, and so on Saturday Raleigh and I went to Disneyland to celebrate. It was a crazy day, not really the best to be honest. We got there, and had to buy a black-out pass (which we've never done), and the lines just to buy tickets were SOOO long. Over an hour just to get into the park!! Then, on the second ride we went on, my iPhone (paid for by the company I work for) got lost on the Indiana Jones ride. Talk about a bad day!! I was so upset, at first not just because it was a phone that I lost, but because it belonged to the company, and I just felt awful. Then, in the next few days to come, I realized how pathetically dependent I am on my phone! Does anyone else feel that way? I didn't know it till I had to go a long time without it. Uhhgg.

Anyway, we made it a good day. Then, tonight (just a while ago!) Raleigh made dinner, and we sat down to a nice meal together in celebration! I am so very thankful for Raleigh, and for everyone that made this day special!

Sisters!

Kristina making cookies in my kitchen. :)
The Ocean Beach funky tree in San Diego.

Kristina, my sweet sister, came over this weekend and we hung out. It's great that she's at BIOLA and we are here in the desert, just about two hours apart. So, she came over on Friday then we went to San Diego to visit our grandma on Saturday. Then we made Christmas cookies together! It was just fun. Kind of a tiring weekend, but a good one. I'm so thankful for Kristina as my sister! Here are some pictures.

Thanksgiving in Oregon!

David, Kristina, Raleigh, and me on a walk in the woods!
Kristina's 21st birthday!
David eating his Thanksgiving meal. I had to take a picture, because he eats A LOT!! :)
Kristina and me going for a jog, trying to run off some of those calories!

We had such a great time in Oregon with our families. It was just one thing: REFRESHING. So great to just hang out with our families, and relax! We didn't do much, which was awesome! Here are some pictures. Kristina's 21st birthday was the day after Thanksgiving, so we did NOT do any shopping, but just hung out and celebrated her birthday. I have to admit, I LOVE a good steal of a deal, but was thankful to not be out in the crowds that day. I really do not like crowds! Anyway, that's about it. Here are the pictures.

Disneyland!

So, Raleigh and I have season passes for Disneyland that we bought in June, and so far have been able to go many times since. But we were most excited about going during Christmas time, because we've never been there during Christmas. We took a short trip yesterday (we were there only about 5 hours compared to when we usually go and stay there for like..12 hours). It was beautiful. They definitely deck it out to the fullest. Kristina met us there, since BIOLA is only a few miles away, and my boss, Jeff, and his family were there too, so we hung out with them. It was fun. We went on a few rides, took some pictures, and the best part was being on Main St. when they made it "snow"! It was beautiful. They dim all the lights, light up the castle (that looks like it has snow all over it). and then they make it "snow" on Main St. I won't give away their secrets, but I can confirm it was not real snow. However, it honestly looked like the real thing if you just looked up. It was a good time, and we are going to go back in December and really enjoy it for longer.

Seattle Conference trip

This is the house where we stayed on the trip. Isn't it gorgeous!!?? Right on the lake.
Fall! :) And I really needed a Fall fix.
The Planning Center crew. Jeff and Jeff (who I work with) are on the left.

Yes, I got to meet Lincoln Brewster! Nice guy. I'm also promoting Planning Center to his church. His band stopped by our booth and said they really want to use it and they're going to try to convince him. :)
Raleigh and me at the first Starbucks!


So the company I work for flew Raleigh and I along with Jeff and Jeff and their spouses up to Seattle, WA for a worship conference. We set up a booth there to promote our product, and got to hang out a lot and have fun!! It was so great. Very refreshing to me to be in the beautiful Northwest for a while. I am so thankful that we got to go. God has blessed us so much through this job I have. We made lots of memories, and got at least a few sign-ups for Planning Center :) .
The trip included staying at a house right on the lake, going to downtown Seattle, getting lost several times, and of course, wouldn't be complete without Raleigh and I coming back with a funny story about how we got locked our of our bedroom in the house and stayed up for over an hour (while most everyone else was in bed) trying to pry open the hinges. Eventually, we just found the key. Haha. The best part about it was that we had just been in the hot tub, and when Raleigh accidentally closed the door, it was because he was on his way to the shower so he had no clothes!! He was trying to break into the outside door with only a towel on. I wish I had a good picture of that, but I think our camera was in the bedroom! :)

Mexico Missions Trip

This is the family that we made the house for!
     The site where we built the house.
    Beautiful Morning!!


So, we just got back from our Mexico trip today! Thank goodness we made it over the border alright. And, even though we accidentally went through the wrong lane and only ended up waiting about 4 minutes then getting an official warning, we still made it! Our trip went really well. We went down with about 8 other people from the college group and then a lot of families and adults. It's not your typical missions trip because we get to sleep in a hotel and eat at the restaurant. So, it's pretty nice, really!!

 We went down Friday afternoon and got to relax that evening and hang out. Then woke up REALLY early Saturday to build the house. Funny story actually, because we called for a wake up call for 6am but they called at 5am. But, because our hotel clock was an hour ahead, we thought it was the right time. So we get all ready (and to me it felt painfully early), went down to the restaurant where breakfast was, and no one was there! That's when we realized we actually woke up at 5am instead of 6. Uhhgg. Oh well. So we walked along the beach for a while and we got to see the sunrise over the mountains. It was beautiful. 

We built the house for the family, which is the best part, obviously! As you can see from the pictures, it's super small, but they are so happy. I thought it was cool 'cause the Dad of the family was a pastor, so that was easy for Raleigh and I to identify with that part of their lives. This part of Mexico is in such sad shape. We saw some things down there we wish we'd never seen, but we experienced the people's kindness and gratitude, which was so sweet. It's a great trip, and we are grateful it went well. 

Here are some pictures of our trip! Enjoy them. :) 

My Job!!

Hey everyone, just thought I'd write about my job, 'cause most people reading this are from back in Oregon, and don't really know about it.

We have been down here now for a little over a year (weird!) and I haven't had success with jobs at all up until Sept. All last year and especially in the Spring/Summer I was looking for teaching jobs like crazy. But with the California budget crisis, districts were laying off teachers like crazy and it was looking SO bad for me getting a job. And, I didn't get a teaching job. So I looked for other things, and God provided me with the job I have now!

I work for a small company called Ministry Centered Technologies. Right now the only program they have is Planning Center Online (www.planningcenteronline.com if you want to check it out). It's a worship planning program that allows worship leaders at churches to quickly and very effectively plan worship services. Thousands of churches around the world use it. It's pretty cool. The guy who owns the company and created the program is one of my friends so that is kind of how I got this job. So....MY job is the Community Support Director. I do many things but my biggest priority is to answer phone calls and emails when people need support with the program. I also have been doing some tutorial videos and in the future will be doing some podcasts, which will be fun, 'cause I'll post them on the blog! It's so great. It's not stressful, it's fun, and the two guys I work with are really great Christians and fun guys. It's a full time job, so it keeps me busy. I've had to become very techy very quickly. :)

I never thought I'd be doing anything else besides teaching, and when God took me through such a dry time with NO JOBS, I never thought he'd give me something so fitting and so perfect for me right now. It just is such a reminder that when He says no to something, it's because He has something even better in mind. But that is very hard to see sometimes! I'm SO thankful for my job, and love it.

So, if your church ever needs a great worship planning tool, you know who to talk to. :) It's not very expensive and it's really easy to learn how to use. That's all for now! We are going to Mexico this weekend and then Seattle next week so I'll write about that and post pictures later.

Pictures of Halloween time.

It doesn't feel like Halloween.

I'm still not used to the desert weather. It's Halloween, and I woke up this morning and it was already 80 degrees out. Today it's supposed to ONLY (haha) get to 91. Ya. This is not fall weather! I know I know, probably a lot of you are thinking, well you are crazy because it's better than the freezing cold and the rain! I miss the rain so badly though, and most of all, I miss seasons. Down here in the desert there are only two seasons: warm, and hot. The fact that tomorrow is November and I still haven't put away my shorts and tank tops is just weird to me! Oh well, I guess this Oregonian blood will not die quickly. :)

Hey everyone! So I thought Blog posts were just for people with little kids, but, I think I'm going to do one just for us anyway! There are fun, exciting things happening in our life so I will try to keep this updated. :) Right now I'm not going to add any pictures or anything, but I will later.

Ok well that's it! Just wanted to start off my blog. :)