quick note about oklahoma...

for everyone out there that thinks oklahoma is the armpit of america let me see if I can change your mind... (unless your not into the whole ranch/farm life idea)

Driving down an old dirt road to my parents house that overlooks a valley, occupied by other family members is what the picture directly above shows... two of the boys were outside playing catch with their dad, meg (another cousin) was riding her horse in the pasture and the dogs came running towards us to say hello :)

After I showered (which I was waiting to do since the night before) we walked down to the lower home and had dinner with everyone to celebrate my mom and 3rd cousins' birthday. By the time we walked home it was getting dark outside and the fireflies came out... fireflies are definitely one of god's most creative creations!

Well... if I didn't convince you to think more highly of this amazing place, I won't apologize... cause I still love it!

still love to travel...

it's 520am and I think I've gotten 3 shabby hours of sleep in the last 24 hours. Doesn't sound too bad, unless you know me, and know that I LOVE my sleep.

My final day in SLO was great: said goodbye to my roommate (sorry nelson, I thought you were still sleeping :( ), packed up the rest of my stuff, parked my car in the garage at the school I work at for safe keeping, taxied my way to the train station and then scored a later ticket on the train that went all the way to Oakland (instead of having to switch to a bus). Since I had extra time I made my way to this amazing little coffee shop called sally loo's and spent the next two hours tying up loose ends, and of course, facebooking (i feel like I shouldn't admit that...)

Then I took an incredible train ride up north and began finding out little details that were going to make my night much less enjoyable than I had planned. One of my fav people, kial joy, was going to house me last night in SF and then take me to the airport in the morn... that is until her fictional (by fictional I mean amazing beyond belief) boyfriend surprised her with a trip to LA. I tried to convince her that there is nothing good in LA... but it didn't work. So no big, I just hop on the bart and go straight to the airport... I've always wanted to experience a night in the airport... to make it a little nicer I purchased a one day pass into the Delta Lounge... I felt pretty cool buying that. But quickly felt real dumb when I found out it's actually not open 24hrs, closes before I get to the airport, doesn't open till 5am.

Again... no big (I said that a lot last night, gotta keep the spirits up), I sleep, check my bags then go hang out and shower... oh how I need to shower.

Slept (kind of), checked bags, got through security, cannot wait to shower... cannot find the delta lounge...

It's back on the other side of security... damn

So I leave the terminal, go upstairs to the delta lounge an hour early and play brick breaker to pass the time. Finally it opens... and there are no showers!!!!!! lol... but there is some great coffee and some yum oatmeal :)

And here I am... 530am now, blogging about my travels... and reminding myself that this is all part of gods humor and he's seriously testing my patience... I think I passed... I think :)

One week away... ONE week away... holy shit.
I'm nervous, will not lie about that... but the excitement of spending two months in a foreign country away from my real life is far more exciting!
One of my closest girlfriends, Marisa Mastro, just left me. She came up to SLO to visit for a couple days which I can't be grateful enough for. Not just because she's hilarious and I love her... but because without her I wouldn't have been able to pack up all my stuff and move it to a storage unit... I barely did it with her!
We packed the following: a large couch, love seat, my bed, dinning room table and numerous boxes...
We then unpacked everything into a tiny storage room. I was pretty positive that I grossly underestimated the amount of things I own. But... but... we fit everything inside. Amazingly... this thing was packed top to bottom, front to back.
(we were singing beyonce's rule the world song for the rest of the night, very fitting)
I was approved for my own apartment the other day. One bed/one bath. 3 blocks from downtown and 1/2 mile from work. I'm going to be in heaven!
My life is so undeserving of God's amazing grace. But that's the beauty of it all...

avoiding adulthood for a couple months longer

So... about a year and a half later, I am back! I new from the day I started this blog that it wouldn't last long...
But I am trying it again, and for good reason. In a little over a week away from going to Thailand for two months. A friend of mine, Tyler Elick, works for an amazing company called Rustic Pathways. I'll spare you all the details and just say that I got hired to work over the summer leading high school kids in different service projects... Tyler deserves a HUGE thank you, because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for him...
Anywho... I'm starting up the blog to update family and friends (you guys).
And until next week comes around I'll be trying to keep stress levels down while packing, moving, finding a home for when I return...
And praying that blogging has a steep learning curve for your sake :)