5 Places I Love

South Africa

A team from the high school group recently went to Malawi and it reminded me of how much I love South Africa.

Right below is one of the main reasons. The Archer's live there!

And here are some other reasons:

Animals

We actually got to PET this little guy.
Beauty! We were able to spend part of our time at a place callled Hope Valley in the middle of some sugar cane fields.

And fun times with friends and sisters. :)

(And here's a couple more animal shots that got out of order.)

Monterey, CA

I don't even know quite what it is about Monterey, but I love it. I think I was in 6th grade the first time my family went on Spring vacation. I think it was a mix of the fresh, crisp air, the pletheora of cute, fuzzy otters and the quaint old-time feel of Cannery Row. I remember sitting on a rock overlooking the ocean somewhere off the 17-mile drive and just being amazed over God and His beautiful creation! I especially liked walking along the streets of Cannery Row at twilight. The streetlamps would come on, sounds of fog horns came off the water and I just felt so relaxed. Let me just say that it also didn't hurt that a Ghirardelli's is located along this street. Yum!

It was once the destination of one of Megs, Mel and my road trips. :) We are at Ghirardelli's in the picture below.

(There is just one thing I DON'T like about Monterey. And that would be the underground wax museum. There is an added creepiness of a wax museum being near the ocean. Yuck. I get shivers just thinking about it.)

Monterey does have a fabulous Aquarium. If you haven't been, what are you waiting for??

Ephraim, Wisconsin

My great great grandparents moved here from Norway. They helped found the town. The pictures above and below are of Anderson dock. My relatives, the Anderson's, owned it and all the big ships that brought supplies to the town would dock here. It's really fun too because the building is now all covered with names. Kind of like an "Amanda was here" kind of thing. The sunsets there are beautiful. My relatives chose to move here because the peninsulas reminded them of the fjords in Norway. You can see in the picture below. Ephraim is now a touristy town and it is really fun to visit. We've gone kayaking, took hikes in the peninsulas, eaten delicious ice cream at Wilson's (they put a jelly bean at the bottom of the cone), and explored family history. The Anderson's also owned a store and one of their homes was turned into a gift shop.

(The sunset's there are AMAZING!)

New York City

I could never take a good picture of Times Square so here's a nice one from the web. When Em and I first saw Times Square in person, it was right after a show and it had been raining but the rain finally cleared up. I felt like the princess in Enchanted when she comes out of the pothole. I was overwhelmed!

There's nothing quite like the view from the top of a skyscraper!

The first time we went to New York, I tried to take a picture of this fountain and my camera died right as I started to shoot. So here it is in summer!

Downtown Bozeman, Montana

Beautiful mountains and wide open spaces. :)My mom went to MSU for her last two years of college. My family drove to Bozeman every summer to visit my grandparents who retired there. They fell in love with the town when they came to visit my mom. My mom used to take Emily and me to the college so that we could toss pieces of bread to the ducks in the little pond they had on campus. It's to the left in the picture below. I absolutely LOVED going there.

I could have added another five places, but this post would be too long. These are the top five now. I can't wait to see where else I get to travel to someday!

Worth It

In the past week, I've thought a lot about motherhood and the relationship between a mom and her children. From the horrific details of the Casey Anthony case to the amazing account of Jacey Dugard told in her book, A Stolen Life, to a blog post I read here, one in a series of blog posts on how women balance motherhood and their careers.

"Choice" is a popular vocab term that pops up. I'd really like to do a study on this word as it appears in the Bible. I'm guessing you'd be hard pressed to find it in the context of "a woman's right to choose." Yet so many women feel this way and not just in regards to abortion, but also in whether or not they should have a career. I understand that financial hardships exist and that for a time a mother may have to work, possibly even outside of the home. But hopefully her heart lines up with Titus 2:5 and Proverbs 31 and this circumstance would exist for only a short period of time.

Too often believer's start listening to the movies or shows they watch and begin to adopt the world's view on this matter. (Just as we are prone to do on any issue.) I am obviously not a mother so some may say I have no right to speak on this or that I have no idea what I'm talking about. It's true that I may not know how hard it is to be a mom (although I have a small clue from babysitting and teaching Kindergarten.) But either way the Bible is always where we are to look for the true standard. A well known verse that's not always easy to follow is Proverbs 3:5-7, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowlege Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil."

How comforting that no matter how hard it may it be, or how confusing it might seem, if we listen and obey God's Word, we can trust that He will lead us where He wants us to go. And He is always faithful to provide for His children.

And a short word on abortion. A common argument in favor of abortion is, "Well what if a woman gets raped? She didn't choose to get pregnant!" Well read Jaycee Dugard's opinion on the matter:

"Despite years of torment, Dugard, who was kidnapped in 1991 at age 11 near her home in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., insists she would suffer it all again for the priceless reward of her beautiful, loving girls." (You can read more here.)

Did you hear that??? She would endure 18 years of rape and other tortures all over again to have her kids!!!

This perspective can be anyone's if they trust in the love and sovereignty of God.

Em and the Nikon D3100

I'm not sure if I mentioned before that I got a new camera. A DSLR finally! And I'm loving it. But I still have A LOT to learn, especially with lighting. Em was kind enough to let me take pictures of her. Black eye and all! We went to Central Park in Saugus and hiked up the trail. It may surprise people just how many beautiful places you can find in the Santa Clarita Valley.

One of my Dad's best friends, Ron, was kind enough to GIVE me one of his telephoto lenses that he doesn't use anymore. Kind of as a birthday present.

It would also be nice to have a good editing program. Right now I'm just using the one that came with my camera. Although I'm kinda getting over the overprocessed look.

She's a looker! :) I can't understand why she hasn't gotten snatched up yet!

30 for 30

I have a confession to make...
I like clothes.
You can always find people to compare yourself to. There are those who shop way more than I do and have walk in closets full of clothes, and there are those like Charlie Brown. You may wonder if they only have one outfit. Period.
Either way, I need to break the sinful habits of overspending, lack of self control, vanity, the list goes on. Obviously I cannot fight any sin apart from God. Dependence on Him in prayer. He also uses violent language in the Bible...He tells us to cut off our hand or eye if it causes us to sin. I wouldn't say this experiment is going nearly that far. And I have to admit...this is kind of a fun way to work on this, because I can take pictures and blog about it and such. But I digress. Let me explain the 30 for 30 project.

I did not come up with this idea. I saw it on two other blogs. But I thought it would be just the thing for me to try in the month of July! You pick 30 pieces of clothing from your wardrobe and you can only use those pieces to make 30 outfits for a whole month. (And July just happens to have 31 days so...extra challenge! Ha.) It teaches you to "shop your closet" and to see just how much you really don't need that super cute blue sweater from Anthropologie.
So without further ado...my 30 picks:

3 pairs of shorts

2 pairs of work pants

2 white tanks

3 sweaters (for the sometimes chilly office or church basement)

A couple of t-shirts and nice shirt that got left out of the "nice shirt" pic

2 pairs of jeans

4 skirts

2 dresses

4 tops

and 5 tanks

Well! I think those oughta last me just fine! Really I'm kinda embarrassed that I even own this many clothes. I can already tell I don't need anymore! Stay tuned for updates on Project 30 for 30!

Pretty Pretty Princess

Does anyone remember that game? Emily and I used to play it all the time at our friend, Thais' house. A player wins when they collect all the jewelry; necklace, bracelet, ring, clip-on earrings, and best of all, the crown! It would really stink if all you got was earrings each time around.

Well I feel like I experienced the adult version of that game a couple of weeks ago at a Jewelry Party, only we made the jewelry and the winners were the ones who found the best beads first or actually snagged a headband to decorate before they were all gone. (No "crown" for me.)

But I did make a necklace and a couple of bracelets. (One is not shown because I don't like how it turned out.)

I took these pictures at home and I'm so sad that I didn't bring my camera to the party! It was at Melinda Welch's house and I think she is pretty much the best decorator that I've ever met in real life. And she added super cute decorations for the party. Oh well.

She also served the best homemade donuts. They are baked and contain healthy ingredients, but they were so good! And she makes really yummy lattes.

The party was so much fun and the jewelry was surprisingly easy to make. :)

Father's Day

(Watching for the cuckoo to come out of the clock at my Grandma's house in MI.)

This is a day late, but I don't want to miss an opportunity to write about my Dad. Here are some random memories I have of him:

In Kindergarten, my Dad drove me to school on his way to work and if the freeway was packed, we would get off at Paxton and drive through the neighborhood. No matter what season, there were tons of houses that left their Christmas lights on all year. So as we'd drive down the streets we'd take turns saying, "There's one! There's one!"

When I was in High School, Dad drove me to and from church on Wednesday nights. On the way home we would listen to Perry Mason mysteries on the radio and we'd bet each other a penny on the exact time we would make it home. (For some reason we never paid up.)

Also in High School, somehow my friend Kristin convinced me to keep the J.V. football stats with her. (Even though I didn't know anything about football. Which is probably why I had football players yelling at me for not attributing the correct plays to them.) Anyway, Dad drove us to and from the games and explained all the plays on the way home. (He kinda drove me to a lot of different places. Poor guy.)

This one time Em and I were driving with Dad somewhere and this song came on the radio. For some reason, Dad started "rapping". Or trying to. It was sooo funny. Em and I were cracking up and so Dad started cracking up. He was laughing so hard I thought we were going to get in an accident!

This one day Em and I were watching the Disney channel or something and this Donald Duck "music video" came on. It was an old cartoon of Donald working in a wood shop. The tune was really catchy and so Dad, Em and me started whistling it. Ever so often we would remember that video and one of us would try to remember the tune. Someone always wound up getting it and I still remember it to this day.

About a month or so before he entered the hospital, the two of us went on a drive out to Ventura to meet with a graphic designer that does work for Grace to You. I (still am) interested in graphic design and so Dad wanted me to be able to talk with someone who knew the ins and outs of the profession. It was a beautiful day and we got Starbucks afterwords. I asked my Dad to tell me a story about himself that I had never heard. He told me about how when he was younger he and his friends decided to go on a "hike" in Michigan. They were just old enough to go on a long hike by themselves. Nothing really eventful happened to them, but he said it was just to much fun and they went far and were gone most of the day. He just seemed so happy remembering it.

There are so many other sweet memories I have with my Dad. I miss him sooo much! I am so thankful to God for giving me such a great Dad. And I am so thankful that I have a heavenly Father who provides and protects.