One HUGE update!

Wow SOOOO... yeah, I know... I didn't blog about GA. I just realized that today. I haven't done my teaching blog yet either... Well guess what! Its time for a super long probably long winded blog!!! I guess I will go back and start with GA since that was the first one I should have written :)

General Assembly... what is there to really say about being a YAAD at the 2010 219th General Assembly? Only one word comes to mind... YAADtastic!!!!! General Assembly has to be one of the best experiences of my life. It was absolutely insane, and absolutely hectic, and absolutely busy, and absolutely stressful, but most of all absolutely worth it. All of the days ran together when I was there, so there is no way I could do a day by day thing but I will try my best to categorize the events somehow... The first few days were great, I was extremely nervous going out there because I didn't know anyone (besides my pastor who didn't fly in until the next day) and had never been to the city before. Let me tell you one thing, God's children are amazing. Once in Minnesota, my fears quickly disappeared. I met my roommate Hannah almost immediately and we got along beautifully. She and I went downstairs to register and ran into an old friend of hers named Caroline (who by the way later became one of our co-moderators). And we agreed to all go to dinner together. Later that evening we met up with a large group of people (correct me if I am wrong YAADS, but there were 7 of us that first night right?) and went to chipotle for dinner. We then went to Target (Which by the way was HUGE) and laughed and had a ball (hahaha no pun intended YAADs). We all clicked really well together and the majority of the 7 of us spent a great deal of time together for the next ten days. YAAD orientation was long, informative, but long. We learned tons of new information about Robert's rules of order and how our meetings were going to be run and we worshiped and just got things done. Worship with the YAADs was something that I enjoyed. I loved looking around the room and seeing so many people my age just as in to God as I am. I haven't been able to see that in my home church so GA was a breath of fresh air for me. By Sunday, we were all oriented and ready to go, GA had begun. Sunday morning worship was ... well WOW! 10,000 presbyterians, god loving, children of our lord, came together to do one thing, Worship our lord and savior. The opening processional was a beautiful display of colors, animals, dancers, and all of god's creations coming from everywhere to join in that purpose. The four dancers represented the four winds (from the four edges of the world) and at the very end, each of them poured a pitcher of water into one single baptismal font. There was a call to worship, there were songs, Bruce Reyes Chow (former moderator) gave an extremely powerful service, there was more singing and more worshiping and then the service ended with all of us who had never witnessed a GA worship in awe. Business started either Monday or Tuesday I think it was monday... and we broke off into 19 committees. 1. Business referrals, 2. Bills and overtures, 3. General Assembly procedures, 4. Middle governing body issues, 5. Church Polity, 6. Church orders and ministry, 7. Form of government, 8. Ecumenical and interfaith relations, 9. Mission coordination, 10. Social Justice issues A: the promotion of social righteousness, 11. Social Justice issues B: the exhibition of the kingdom of heaven to the world, 12. Civil Union and marriage issues, 13. Peacemaking and International issues, 14. Middle East peace making issues, 15. Church Growth, Christian education and PILP, 16. Theological issues and institutions, 17. Review of GA permanent committees, 18. Board of Pensions, Foundation and Presbyterian Publishing, and 19. Health Issues (my committee also the picture below which is almost all the YAADs from committee 19 I don't know where the rest of yall went!). Each committee was given overtures to read over, amend, and vote on whether to send it to plenary. These lasted until Wednesday and were pretty stressful. YAADS were allowed to discuss, and vote. Our input was welcome in committee and encouraged. After hours of discussing, debating, disagreeing and finally voting, we were all exhausted. Our committee was having issues sweating the small stuff (And trust me I mean the small stuff like using the word females instead of women in an overture) and it seemed like we were going to be stuck there until late on Wednesday. Tuesday night however we were all bit in the but by the same bug and just got everything done! We finished first on Wednesday afternoon in time to get lunch! It was great! All of the YAADs on my committee went out to eat at this place (a sports bar and I totally forgot what the name of it is!) where we watched the tail end of a soccer game and laughed and truly enjoyed ourselves. Later that day, the YAADs all got to go to the Mall of America. When they say the mall is big, they mean the mall is gigantic. You can't walk the whole thing in a day, heck they said if you spend ten minutes in each store it would take you three days. There is an amusement park IN the mall! There is even a little lego land too its great! We had a ton of fun and I really got to bond with one of my favorite people in the whole world on the roller coasters, you know who you are. The rest of the week was business. Plenary to be precise. Boy oh boy did that get stressful some times. For the most part though it wasn't terrible. The YAADs figured out a way to chat through PCbiz so at least we could hear each others' reasoning for voting the way we did. Granted we weren't allowed a real vote in plenary, just an advisory one, it was still nice to vote for good reason since some people really did take into account our votes. By July 10th, the final day of GA, I was exhausted. I flew home and could barely function. Sleep was not something that YAADs know how to do very well. All in all the experience was one I won't soon forget and I truly miss my fellow YAADs. Hopefully that day wasn't goodbye and in fact see you soon.

Ok, now teaching. The whole teaching experience was great. I loved being there to answer questions. I loved watching their faces light up when they knew an answer. I just loved the very act of teaching itself! I think I did a great job for it being my first time teaching. It wasn't perfect but it was my first time so I am ok with it. The students were engaged the entire time and overall it was fun. I know its not a very lengthy write up, but there isn't much to say other then I now know that I am doing the right thing with my life and let me just say, it is a wonderful feeling.

I wanted to share the freakiest story with you. I hate bees. I am absolutely am terrified of them and wasps. Well, I was sitting in my car in the parking lot of CSU, reading for class and enjoying the fall weather with my windows down. Next thing I know, there is a bee in my car. I sit absolutely still and wait for it to fly out. It flies into my cheek a few times and I shut my eyes hard. Then it flies into my hair! But still, I sat as still as I could just waiting for it to leave. After a minute or two I figure it probably flew out and I just didn't notice so I gently run my hand across the back of my head where it had landed and feel nothing. So I relax and go back to my reading. The next thing I know, I feel something crawling on the side of my head! It was the stupid bee! So I literally sit perfectly still and try to coax the bee out by moving strands of hair that were blocking it from flying off my head. I don't hear any buzzing and can't tell if it flew away but i don't feel it any more. So I get out of my car and gently shake my head and turn my hair upside down to make sure it isn't there anymore. To this day I don't know if it stayed in my car or what but for the rest of the day any tickle I felt I freaked out. Luckily there is no bee in my hair any more but it was the scariest thing ever!


School is going well, I am starting to learn to love Shakespeare and am definitely loving being an English teacher. Hope you all are well!

We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own.
-Ben Sweetland

(oh by the way I think I will finally get around to uploading the rest of my GA pictures onto facebook so take a look HERE)

Nerves!! I hate them...

Tomorrow is the big day... my first time teaching a full class. I have never been so nervous for anything in my life. I feel like this is a huge pivotal point in my life and if I mess it up, it will hurt my future. I love middle school students, I love English, and I love watching students learn... so this should be a piece of cake for me right? I mean, if you love something, it should come naturally... but I am so scared... My stomach is churning, I feel like I could throw up at any second, and I really feel like crying. I wish there were some way to shut off my ability to get nervous. It is my absolute least favorite feeling in the world! I hate feeling nauseous and unfortunately, I am a worrier. When I worry, my stomach immediately turns into nervous stomach. I really just hope I don't mess up. I know this blog is kind of all over the place but I had to do something to calm myself down and I suppose the one way I know best is to write. Though at this point I am so nervous I don't think anything could calm me down... my mom and my brother are the closest to being successful in calming me down, they both successfully did for a little while. My mom just told me all the things I was telling her when I was helping her to concur her fear of interviews, things like its just an irrational fear, the spirit is within me, just remember to breathe, something about the spirit of the fruit being self something I dont remember exactly but her good friend told her that and it seemed to help. I took some deep breaths and repeated all of that and it did help for a while. Then my brother gave me a list of five reasons why I shouldn't be nervous... he said dont be nerviousa sister, heres a top 5 list why:
5. Because you are Vaes and that automatically makes you cool
4. They are middle schoolers, if you say something silly, they wil laugh but they arent smart enough yet to realize you didn't do it on purpose
3. You are the sister of Bens and that automatically makes you cool
2. you have honestly found your calling and I can just tell you are really good at this. It's the first of something you will do the rest of your life and that is super exciting
and the number one reason why you shouldn't be nervous:
1. Because no one picks on a short teacher :P
I love that he made me smile and even attempt a small laugh, and that worked for as long as mom's advice... But now I am nervous again. I feel silly, but I can't calm myself down. I even took a hot bath! That helped too, but only briefly. I hope this feeling doesn't last. Sigh, wish me luck, I will post again with how it went. I would love as many thoughts and prayers as I can get. I love my family and friends. I am going to try and calm down some and get some sleep... wish me luck.

Neat Second Chance Story

Minnesota, how I love you! General Assembly, how I love you! New friends, how I love you! But most of all GOD!!! I LOVE YOU! I just wanted to take the time today to do one of my favorite things... write, and I figured that I could kill two birds with one stone and update my loving friends and family and blog. I had a bit of a break today (unfortunately I really need sleep) and figured, why not? General Assembly has been an absolutely amazing experience, mind you, stressful, but amazing!!! My brain is fried, my body is tired, my spirit is stretched to limits I didn't know it could begin to reach, but I feel amazing! I will update much more about my experiences here later but today I really just want to write about one thing. That one thing is a story, so here it goes...
In the late 1800's and early 1900's Northeastern Minnesota's main industry was lumber. Many of the local lakes were used as a way to transport logs to the mills. Some of the logs became water logged and sunk to the bottom of the lake. After 100 years or more of sitting on the bottom of the lake, some of the logs floated back to the surface. These logs are known as "Deadheads" because only one end of the log is visible and they are a great hazard to water craft. A few of those logs have now been harvested by a wonderful pastor named Bill and his wife Sherry. They named them Second chance logs. Just as jesus died on the cross and gave us a chance, these logs are representative of that love. The wood is otherwise useless. Bill sends them to another man who makes them into beautiful crosses. I wear one on a leather lanyard around my neck and will probably wear it forever. If anyone is interested in one of his crosses, he gives them away for free in any number. He doesn't want money, he just wants the crosses to be distributed to the world so that more people are hearing the word. Let me know if you are interested and I will give you his email to get into contact with him or you can let me know what you want and I will email him for you.
I will update everyone on how the trip is going in another post sometime this week or when I get back. I love you all! Fireworks were great! Mall of America was great! But I promise more updates will be coming.

You cannot go outside of A and Z in the realm of literature; likewise Christ Jesus is First and Last of God's new creation, and all that is in between; you cannot get outside of that.

-T. Austin Sparks

Healer, encourager, friend

I know after my post yesterday you may or may not want to hear my sentiments towards anyone or anything today, but this is different. For those of you that have had the pleasure of meeting my brother Ben (Benny) Mendoza, you will know just how true my words are. For those of you that haven't met him, you are missing out greatly and need to meet him. The reason I am writing about him today is because I know that he knows I love and appreciate him but I don't think he knows how much. From the time we were small children (from the time I was born really) Benny has been like a caretaker for me. He is my best friend and just overall amazing. He would be there for anyone that needed him at the drop of the hat and somehow always seems to know what to say to make your problems seem a little less hard to tackle. I just know he is going to make the most caring and awesome doctor the world has ever had the chance to see. It seems like he has this sixth sense to notice when I am having a rough day. On those days that everything seems to be going wrong, I get a phone call from the one and only brother of mine. We talk as often as we can (we both have insanely busy schedules most of the time) but when something is bothering me he can tell and before I know it, I am ranting my entire story in tears and he listens patiently. When I am done explaining the situation he generally says something that blows my mind. Just yesterday in fact, I was pretty upset about something and he told me that he knew I could get through this because he has learned that if I get knocked down, I always find a way back up, even if that means I get knocked down four more times. Wow! I didn't know he thought I was that strong, and to be honest, yesterday I was feeling pretty down on myself. His words made me stop crying and get back up, just like he had faith that I could do. Ben is an encourager, a healer, a great listener, an amazing brother, and most of all the best friend I have ever had. I don't know if he has time to read these but if you do Bens I love you and appreciate you.

One more quick update on my life and all things Vae, I am still searching for a job and am going to start applying to places in the food industry which I have wanted to avoid but at this point I can't be choosey so wish me luck and send me all the love and prayers you can. I appreciate it very much! I don't know how many people actually read these but thank you! Even if I only have one reader, thank you. I love writing and will be doing this blogging thing a lot more because it helps me to continue to write for myself and not because I have to. I forgot just how much I enjoyed blogging until yesterday so expect lots more from me. Have a wonderful day! If you could, if you are reading this, you should leave me a comment. It makes me so happy to hear from all my friends and family and anyone else reading this by pure chance. Love you all!

A brother is a friend provided by nature.

-Legouve Pere

America=Faith?

So I was driving in the car today listening to a song called gotta be more like falling in love. The song basically talks about how having Faith has to be more of a deep feeling. It can't be tangible because that isn't faith, but rather a desire so deep that it penetrates your very soul much like love but only stronger and even more beautiful (at least thats my interpretation of the song). Anyway, I'm driving down the road listening to this song and a thought pops into my head. Forgive me if its far fetched, but here's a glimpse into how my brain works:

Having a faith in God is like believing in one's country. Someone else established that this area we live in is called America and we have been told since we are young children that we should have pride in the USA. None of us were alive when the declaration of independence was signed. "Yes but Revae! What about the fact that we can visibly see the land we walk on, we can go to the edge of the country and feel the water! Doesn't that prove that America exists?" Well, yes and no. It proves that we have land to stand on, it proves that we have oceans, it proves that we are occupying a space, but it does not prove that we live in America. Someone had to come and identify it as so and the teachings have to be passed down. This is like believing in God. We are standing on this land we call America, and guess what?! It was made by God! Jesus came to be our messenger, to remind us and teach us of our loving God. Stories are passed down to our children, and the history is taught. We just have to believe and have pride in our God. Granted yes it is much more powerful a feeling and a much more beautiful relationship, but it works. Its a beautiful thing isn't it?

A quick update on GA, I have had a lot of reading to do, but todays was super exciting. Today we found out what the YAAD event is going to be. *Drumroll please!* We are going to Mall of America! Not only that but its sponsored by COLA so we get to do all kinds of neat stuff! There are opportunities to ride the amusement rides, a backstage tour of the facilities, shops, a ropes course, mini golf, scavenger hunts and much more! Dinner is included and when the mall closes we get to gather in the Great room for a performance by Comedy Sports a well-loved local improv group! I can't wait!!

I guess thats all for today, sorry its kind of a short update :)

Life is an exciting business, and most exciting when it is lived for others.

-Helen Keller

Old Endings and New Beginnings

Wow! A lot has happened since I last blogged! Lets see, where to even begin? I suppose with the biggest change :D I am now moved out of my mom's house in an apartment with two of my friends, Ashley and Zach. So far the change has been a good one. I do miss seeing mom every night, and my puppies and such but I really believe that this will help me to continue to grow. We live in an apartment complex near the University so that is a plus! They are extremely nice!! It seems like everything has fallen into place too! Everyone has been so gracious to us, supplying us with furniture and the like. I will keep you updated on how things are going!
Spring is upon us! It's about time too! I always find it weird that the SPRING semester ends, just when spring is fully here. I am currently on the tail end of my finals and am relieved that the semester is over. So far I feel like my tests have gone really well, and I have one remaining. Unfortunately this is the most difficult of my tests but I still think it should go over smoothly. It is my Medieval Art Final Experience/quiz as my prof puts it. He doesn't like the words exam, final, or test. He thinks students do better if he calls it a quiz or an experience. Either way, it is a series of 34 pictures in which we have to identify the title of the work, the author, the patron, and the style. Then we have to answer some questions about some of the vocabulary. The pictures are the heaviest weighted though and I know the vocab well.
I received my roommate assignment for General Assembly this last week. Her name is Hannah (or is it Heather?) Morrison. I have no idea where she is from :) all I have is a name, but because I got that, I am now super excited! I should be getting my committee assignment soon too!
Lets see... what else? Hm... I guess its time for breakfast now, if I think of anything else then I will add it later lol but for now toodaloo! (Is that how you spell that?)

“The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.”-Flora Whittemore

Utah, Egg dye, and more!

I know... I said I would blog every Sunday during lent... But hey! I've been so dedicated to this no technology thing that I haven't even logged on to do that (and a little bit of the busy/laziness factor don't help). But now look! I am blogging!! Essentially I want to take the time to fill you in quickly on what I have been up to.
Week one of the no technology bit was difficult. I had more time on my hands then I knew what to do with. I pulled out old instruments that I hadn't picked up in years, I did a lot of walking (0r more like bored pacing) around the house, I cleaned and did laundry, I packed stuff... I basically found any form of entertainment that I could.
The later weeks became more and more simple. In the beginning I would reach for the knob to turn on the radio in my car by habit but as weeks continued, I no longer felt the need for the radio. My mom and I even drove all the way to Colorado Springs without the radio, using only our own silliness to entertain ourselves. I have now found that I don't need technology to keep me going, life is passing me by quickly and all I can do to enjoy it is to live every moment. I'm not saying I will never go back to technology but to go back to as heavily as I was using it would be a mistake. I will say that I like having it back though, just for those few times that I've got nothing to do.
Anyway, this is the portion of this post that I have been looking forward to... My mission trip to Provo, Utah! I was an adult helper on the LUVLife (Let Us Vibrate Life, high school youth group of First Presbyterian Church Pueblo) mission trip to Provo/Orem. Overall there were ten students ranging from the 8th grade to seniors in high school. Four of them were females (Emily, Sarah, Rebecca, and Janie) and the other six were male(Ben, Drew, Bryce, Rudy, Daniel, and Brian). We had three adult helpers including myself, Bob Yarberry (Janie's Father) and Rene Morrissey (The youth pastor). Rene oversaw everyone at a broad level and made sure everything went smoothly on the trip, while I monitored the girls a bit more closely and Bob handled the boys. My group of the girls had a separate project from the boys group.
While the boys worked on landscaping a habitat for humanity group, we volunteered in a daycare for special needs and low income families known as Kids on the Move. It was amazing watching the girls work with the kids, and working with them myself was a rewarding but also an emotionally demanding experience. I absolutely adored the kids and felt myself becoming extremely attached to them. (This is why I could not work with that age level, my need to nurture is too strong).
One little boy in particular captured my heart. His name is Eric and he is the sweetest little boy I have ever had the privilege of meeting. Each day he brought a smile to my face and has even given me the desire to one day have a son of my own. Granted it may not be for a while but one day :D.
Each of the kids were absolutely adorable and unique. Some were more difficult emotionally then the others due to different special needs, but they were all lovable in their own ways. This experience was rewarding and wonderful.
The only bad thing is that little kids like to share, and not the fun stuff like toys, but rather a bad cold. I unfortunately brought the cold home to my mom so now she is ill too. Its definitely not a fun cold!
With Easter around the corner, mom and I are going to dye eggs for the first time in years! It was a spur of the moment decision but I can't wait! It will be fun to have an activity to do with mom and will bring back memories!
A quick update on church things, I was officially elected as a deacon and am ordained May 9. We had an amazing Good Friday event at the church yesterday that really allowed me time to reflect and relax. It was ran like an open house type of thing with several stations including a labyrinth, a cross in which you could nail a prayer, music, and much more. It has to be one of my favorite things the church has done.
Hope you all are well and have a wonderful easter!!

Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise." ~Phillips Brooks

Just a quick update!

For those who did not see via facebook twitter or some other way... "Goodbye technology community. Today is my last day for a while. I'm going silent for 46 days during the time of lent (not really for lent just for my own growth which I happened to decide to do during lent). I'm ridding my life of all the noise of technology to spend more time working on my faith with God. Being that the Olympics are on currently I will allow some tv time for that and email for work and school as well as typing out blogs I will prewrite on Sundays. If you need to get a hold of me please email call or text. Wish me luck"

So what does this mean for blogs? Well thats simple really, throughout the week I will write down things that I find important or that I deem blog worthy and on Sundays I will type them out on here. SO don't worry, there will still be blogs (quite possibly more regularly this way anyway).

Being that its not Sunday and almost midnight on the day that I go silent, this update will be short. Today was a good day, I had work which was nice because I got to help out with appositives, and then homework and finally a Mardi Gras party. That party was super fun! Instead of the traditional way of getting beads we made a game out of it. We each started with 8 beads, and while we played Settlers (Which I finally learned Ben and Jord so watch out!) we made a rule that we could not say any words that started with the letters G or M for mardi gras and if you did then whomever caught you got one of your beads. If you caught yourself before anyone else noticed then you didn't have to give up beads. It turned out to be extremely difficult and between the rules of settlers and focusing on the words said, we had to think a lot. It was a total blast though and I enjoyed every minute of it. I was so glad to spend time with my friends and just have laughs and an overall good time!

In honor of the short blog, I have chosen two quotes for the day:


At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities.
--Jean Houston


A little faith will bring your soul to heaven, but a lot of faith will bring heaven to your soul.
--Dwight L. Moody

We Are The World Foundation

Teaching

Ah the wonderful world of my chosen profession: teaching. First off let me start by saying that I couldn't be happier then where I stand in life today. Every day I wake up knowing that I am doing the right thing because no matter how tired I am I make sure to try and start each day with a smile. Some days are harder then others but I try to make sure to start each day off right by remembering how difficult the task would be had I not made the decision to change my major. I even set my alarm clock text to "Time for a wonderful day!" The mere fact that I am able to tackle waking up with a smile even on the early mornings lets me know I am in the right place.
Today I woke up before my alarm and got my day started with a bagel and cream cheese. I took a shower and got ready for the day and then headed out the door to County High. Ms. Fodor's class (the fifth hour that I observe is Judith Fodor's honors 9 English class) had presentations today. They read the novel "Night" which is a concentration camp story and had to do a multi-genre project and then present their work to the class. Some of the kids are brilliant. I enjoyed every single presentation! There were poems, comic books of chapters of the story, Recipes to make an SS officer, an auschwitz cafe menu, lullaby's for Jewish kids, birth certificates, Hitler's report card, board games, journal entries, letters, obituaries, an obituary of Hitler's sanity, and many many more creative pieces and we haven't even gotten to the presentations that had a technology piece in them yet! It was the coolest thing seeing the kids present a project they worked hard on! I will definitely teach my classes the multi-genre project even if I end up teaching middle school. *As a side note on that, I will not be one of those teachers who limits what I teach in fear of the students not grasping it. Rather then teaching down to their level I plan on teaching them up to the standard that I will decide on.* Anyway, I absolutely love projects like this one because in a school system that doesn't have art classes at their level, the kids need a creative outlet and a way to express themselves. Hopefully I will get examples of their work to take and keep so I can share it with you. Jamie's 6th hour read today, not too much excitement there, and finally her 7th hour started. That class always brightens my day. We talked about The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Little Shop of Horrors and Ashton Kutcher's Saturday Night Live grape skit (I swear they got work done too lol) and overall just had a nice relaxed class. They are working on the multi-genre project that Fodor's class did and are already starting to put together promising projects. They are the most open to my being there and love sharing their work and stories with me. That class brings me laughs and joys and I can't wait to have a class of my own that is half as awesome as they are.
After class I went to drop off my Dean's List letter at my insurance place so that my mom will get the good student discount but when I got there we realized it didn't actually say my gpa on it so it wouldn't work. We ended up requesting an official transcript be sent. While I was there I solved two rubik's cubes and joked around with the people in the office. I want to start solving the cube more often again, I've gotten kinda slow at it compared to where I was. It used to help me to de-stress and I would like to get to that point again.
I am trying to learn to play the guitar but it is proving to not be easy. I can not for the life of me play a C chord, or any barre chords. Its a bummer!! But practice will help that I hope. I just have to stay on it and not quit like I have in the past. I might take lessons soon but I would rather do voice lessons. I LOVE theater and I have always felt like my number one limitation is the inability (or maybe the lack of confidence) to do musicals. Hopefully voice lessons will fix that. I can teach myself guitar rather then using the lessons for something that I can't learn on my own. My wonderful Mom gave me a certificate for lessons of my choice at the art center and the decision is now between guitar and voice. I will keep my blog updated with my choice.
I made the decision to accept the nomination to be a Deacon at my church today. I am happy with my decision and can't wait to see where being a deacon takes me in my church and faith.
I had a wonderful day and look forward to the end of my week tomorrow so I can have a relaxing and equally as wonderful weekend.

A good teacher has been defined as one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.
-- Thomas J.

Smoothie!!

So I wasn't going to start blogging officially until tomorrow but I had to write about this wonderful smoothie I just made. Mom bought this chocolate silk (silk is like the non dairy soy milk) and at first I wasn't too crazy about it but it kinda grew on me. But anyway she was drinking it the other night and said "Wouldn't this be good to make a smoothie out of?" And so today I decided I would try it and boy am I glad I did! I put about a cup of crushed ice into my smoothie maker with a banana, about 3/4 cup of the silk, and somewhere around 2 tablespoons of peanut butter. It is truly wonderful! If you like chocolate, bananas, peanut butter and smoothies I suggest you try it!!
While I am here I suppose I can make a quick little blurb about my day as well. It was so nice to have the day off. I didn't realize how tired I was, but now that I have had the day to rest and recover I feel like I have real energy again! It was an amazing feeling to just be able to relax and not have to worry about this or that needing to be done. I must admit I did miss being in the classroom with all the kids today but they will still be there Thursday. Speaking of which I am extremely excited for Thursday because the kids in my 5th hour are finishing their presentations so I get to watch a few of them! For those of you who don't know, I spend three hours every Tuesday and Thursday observing two different teachers at Pueblo County High School. I love every minute of it and know in my heart that I have finally found the path that God wants me to be on.
Also speaking of God, I am extremely happy about something! Many of you probably already know this but I am going to be the Young Adult Advisory Delegate (Y.A.A.D) for Presbyterian General Assembly (G.A) in July. I am extremely happy about this but kind of nervous too. I know its going to be an amazing experience but a LOT of work too. I am asking for prayers as the time approaches that we will be successful in our time of meeting and make decisions for the Presbyterian churches of America.
Never take the days of relaxation for granted, or for that matter any day. Each day we are given is a blessing. Each day from today forward, I want to finish my blogs with a quote that matches what I have to say. Today I will have two because both seemed fitting:

Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.
-- Henry Van Dyke

And of course one for my delicious smoothie, a classic quote:
Life is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get.
--Forrest Gump

Blogging

So I have wanted to start doing this for a long time now. The title blog diaries has been floating around in my head for somewhere around six months. My brother Ben just started his blog and I figured why not start one with him.
Ben had a good point, it seems that life changes rapidly over the years and it is my desire to remember those years. I want to be able to look back at something years from now and read about what was important to me at differing times in my life. I also want to be able to share the important highlights of my life with the family I can't see every day.
I think it will be neat to read up on how my brother is doing every now and then and be able to update my blog with what I am doing to give him something to read too. This way if he goes far away for residency we will still be able to know whats going on in each others lives. My brother and I have always been extremely close so being away from him hasn't been easy but it has helped me to be extremely grateful for the times we do get to spend together. Jordan has been such an amazing person for him and I am so glad that she has been able to help him through being away and the stresses of medical school.
My dad is the other one that I know will appreciate my blogs, he has been away for a long time now but we still try to talk as much as possible. Hopefully this way he will be able to keep up on the happenings in his kids lives and won't feel like he is so far away.
To everyone else reading my blogs, thank you and I love you all and hope that you enjoy them!