Happy Friday!!!

Today is the last day of classes at USC, which means that the year is basically over. Next week are the Stop Days (the Mon and Tues of finals week, so called because no tests/projects can be due that day - you're supposed to "stop" and study...which most don't...) and then on the 14th is graduation!! Crazy times......

It being Friday means the weekend which I am happy about but it also means a busy couple days ahead of me. Tonight isn't bad, but tomorrow morning/afternoon I am going to Moorpark to get sized for a bridesmaid dress for August. The bride, my friend Jenn, grew up there and one of her old family friends is making the dresses herself!! So all the bridesmaids (minus one b/c she already did it) are heading over there tomorrow to get sized up - I'm super excited to see what the dress will look like! It's kelly green and we're wearing silver sandals. I was specifically told no orange nail polish.....

Then Saturday night is the Christian Challenge Senior Celebration!! We're going to the Spaghetti Factory in Fullerton to have dinner together and dress up and honor our seniors! Now I just have to figure out what to wear...

Sunday is my church's baptism right after church!! So excited about that because we've seen a lot of people come into the Kingdom this year and it's been amazing so I can't wait to celebrate with them!

Later that afternoon there is the wedding shower for Jenn and it's going to be a Mexican-themed fiesta!! She insisted on not having the typical wedding themed shower, which I like because now we get to have more fun :) plus, it's mostly her friends at this one so we don't need to be all formal. She is having her more wedding themed ones with her family at a later date. So that should be fun to just celebrate her new stage of life coming up!!

Whew!! If I'm still standing by Monday I'll be impressed with myself, and it doesn't really matter because I've already agreed to go surfing in the morning and then go to Disneyland with some students in the afternoon :) Now if *that* doesn't sound like the perfect day I don't know what will.



hope you have a great weekend and here is the funny of the day to bring you a smile (or a roll of the eyes :)

Think time

Have you ever just sat down and spent some time thinking? I don't mean daydreaming, I don't think we need any help going there, or at least I don't, but I mean really thinking. Thinking about how we can add value to our workplace, how to be more effective in what we do, how to shore up our weaknesses, how to highlight our strengths, how to reach out in different and creative ways, etc.

This past Sunday we had a staff meeting and my boss challenged us to stop and think about how we can be more effective at what we do. He was saying that every good book/event/method, etc. came to fruition through the process of someone simply thinking about how to do something. And it got me thinking (go figure...) that I never really do that. Or if I do, it's how to plan something that has already been scheduled. I never take time to think and dream about "what could be." And this is not to say that all ideas are great, because they're not. About 1 idea in 6 is a good one, so to really take time, set it aside and use it purely for thinking about what could be, what new ways we could approach things, how to solidify the old ways of doing things, how to add value to my workplace, to my co-worker's lives, to the lives of my friends and family, etc.

I was thinking it would be a good idea to stay grounded in God's Word of course as I do this, and then it came to me the perfect verse to memorize for this week --> Ephesians 3:20-21 which says,

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Seeing as how God is SUPER creative (just take a look outside or even at all the different kinds of people for proof) and He also says that if we want wisdom He will freely give it to us (James 1:5-6), then it's probably a good idea to ask Him for ideas because He's a lot more invested in people's lives than I am. I also love that verse because I think so often I subconsciously limit God in what I think He can or cannot do. It proves a good reminder that God is limitless and can do *more* than I ask or even IMAGINE!!! And I can imagine a lot, but I always cut my ideas off at the knees because I think, "nah, would never work" but how do I know?? I am simply projecting my own standards for how things could get done, and if the world worked that way then we'd all be in some serious trouble.

So I am going to plan some "thinking time" in my weekly schedule and see what ideas come up. As my boss says, it's going to be a lot harder when I first start doing this because we don't use our brains nearly enough, and it's like any other muscle that doesn't get a lot of use. The first time we use it it'll probably be sore for a while (I recently took a muscle conditioning class at USC last Wednesday and I'm still sore...) but the more we use it the more supple it'll become. Do you ever stop and think about things? The way they are and the way they could be? I challenge you to take some time every week, doesn't have to be an hour, just 10 min, to think about how you can add value to the people and jobs around you. I'll let you know how my own progress goes :)

Hope you're having a great Tuesday!!


and here's the funny of the day:

Inspiring Wednesdays

So I thought I might make Wednesday posts encouraging and inspiring ones seeing as how it's midweek and I think we could all use an extra push for the weekend! The inaugural encouraging/challenging post comes from George Mueller, who was a complete stud. He was born in 1805 and lived 92 years. He was Prussian and moved to England when he was younger and felt like God was calling him to open up an orphanage for boys. The amazing thing is that he built, financed and provided for these orphans with nothing but prayer! He made it a point to not ask people for anything, but only God, and not only was every need provided for, but he had a large staff and he ended up building multiple orphanages and caring for over 10,024 orphans, both boys and girls!! Needless to say, he was busy, but he always found time for God and making sure his soul was refreshed daily in His Word. The following is his "plan for getting things done"

"The first three years after conversion, I neglected the Word of God. Since I began to search it diligently, the blessing has been wonderful.

I have read the Bible through one hundred times and always with increasing delight. I look upon it as a lost day when I have not a good time over the Word of God.

Friends often say 'I have so much to do, so many people to see, I cannot find time for Scripture study.'

Perhaps there are not many who have more to do than I. For more than half a century I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For forty years I have had annually about thirty thousand letters, and most of these passed through my own hands. I have nine assistants always at work corresponding in German, French, English, Danish, Italian, Russian and other languages.

Then as pastor of a church with twelve hundred believers, great has been my care. Besides, I have had charge of five immense orphanages; also, at my publishing depot, the printing and circulating of millions of tracts, books and Bibles.

But I have always made it a rule never to begin work till I have had a good season with God. The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Word in our life and thoughts."


I know this is encouraging and challenging for me, because often I feel like I am swamped and cannot fit one more thing in my day, when I know it's only going to get busier as I get older and if God sees fit to grant me a family too! But it's refreshing to see that in the midst of busyness that one can still make time for God and have it be sweet, not hurried or interrupted. I hope this was encouraging to you and I hope you're having a great Wednesday!

Refreshing weekend!

This past weekend all the USC staff went to a mini-conference held at California Baptist University (CBU) from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening. There were 5 campus ministries represented there, being USC, CBU, UC Riverside, San Diego State Univ and Chico State Univ. It was so refreshing!! Usually whenever there are conferences for campuses and churches in California they're not productive at all and basically gives people a chance to wax eloquent about their ministries and there's never any talk about how to be more effective. Basically they feel like a normal meeting :) But this was a smaller conference spearheaded by the leader of Christian Challenge at CBU (who was also one of the staffers of Project Impact when I went through it as a freshman!) and it was for like-hearted collegiate ministries about how to be more effective, talk about why we do what we do, how we can pray for each other and going over the vision and values of Christian Challenge.

All these ministries are like-hearted because we all have the same background, being we all came from the ministry at the University of Oklahoma. My boss worked there for a year and the leader at CBU, Brian, was a staffer at OU for a few years. The leaders at San Diego and Chico are my age and they just started them up this year! They were both involved in the Challenge at OU and the guy at Riverside was involved with Brian a lot once he came out west and then he started up the ministry at UCR. It's been awesome to have more ministries with the same heart as we do - to see students come to know Christ through natural relationships, walk victoriously in community and be equipped and motivated to reproduce their lives in the lives of others around the world. And because our hearts are knit together it was just so refreshing to see them again and go over the hardships we face and pray for one another. I came back on Saturday night just pooped from the weekend so I basically watched a movie (Stardust) and went to bed!

I just love how even when you have friends who are at different campuses (and states too), you can still come together for a weekend as though no time has passed and simply enjoy, encourage and challenge one another! God is so good :)

Needless to say it was a great weekend and I have a lot to think through! But I think it was just what I needed!



And I now leave you with the funny of the day:

The 'Thon!!

This past weekend was our somewhat annual "Bike/Blade/Walk-a-thon" held at Dockweiler Beach which is a fundraiser for Christian Challenge. The idea is to raise sponsors for walking 10 miles, rollerblading 15 miles or biking 20 miles (most of it on the Strand, so nice and scenic!). All the money raised goes to students going overseas or doing Project Impact (www.goprojectimpact.com :) and this year we have TON! We have one student going overseas, but now 13 or perhaps more doing Project Impact!! So exciting, so it was awesome to raise money for them. At the end of the day we raised close to $10,000!!! It's the most we've ever raised that I know of :) And of course we had a competition. If the girls raised more than the guys, then my boss, Neil, would have to bike in a dress, whereas if the guys raised more than the girls, then his wife, Melinda, would have to bike in floaties and other random gear. So who won you ask? Why, the girls did of course!!! YES!! The girls raised more overall, but the guys raised more per capita, so we compromised. Melinda biked halfway in a shower cap, floaties, water aerobics belt and gloves and then the other half Neil biked in a dress I got for him at the Goodwill by USC. It was amazing. It's more of a poncho than a dress, or a "ponchess" or a "droncho." I walked 10 miles and while it was awesome, I was a bit tired afterwards. I took a 2 hour nap which I never do and it was loverly. Also, you think that walking/running 10 miles would burn a lot of calories right? I bet it does, but right when we were done we had a feast waiting for us! I had a hamburger, some pasta salad, chips, fruit and veggies, and then 3 cookies and 2 rice krispie treats - soooooo, I basically gained back any calories I burned and then some, but ah well, it was amazing :)

Here are some pics from said event!!


This is Josephine, Crystal, Michelle and Amy getting ready pre-thon!


This is Neil, trying to figure out how to put on this poncho/dress thing...


And success!! This is Neil in the dress - the best $8 I've ever spent :)


This is Melinda, in her wonderful outfit. Apparently she was also a traffic hazard, because she told me that as she was biking on the road, a woman was driving near her, and about to turn right but she kept staring at Melinda, to the point where people behind her were honking!


This was my car for the 'Thon - Emily, Lauren and myself :)

It was a lot of fun, and we've held the 'Thon for 6 years I think since I came to USC and this was the 3rd time I've actually been able to do it!! I did it my freshman year and then 2 years ago (the last time we held it) and then this year. In the in between years I was the snack girl at the halfway station for the walker people, and that could be fun, especially when I did it one year with a friend of mine from my sorority, Amy!


Ahhhhh, good times with Amy :)

So yay for being healthy enough to be able to participate in it this year! Woot!!





And with that, I leave you with the funny of the day:

Blog catch-up!

So a lot has happened since my last post, which was over a week ago...sorry!! But last week was the beginning of April, and it seems the true beginning of spring, which always is a great time of year. I think of flowers poking their colorful heads through snow showing off all their petals. Yes, this is just an image I have in my head because I have never really seen this in person seeing as how I live in Southern California...but I like to think that image anyways :)

The first weekend in April was an eventful one, and only a sign of the weekends to come, because from April 3-4 through May 14-15 there are at least TWO things going on every weekend, either with Christian Challenge and/or my church - yay for April! It's always the craziest month of the semester, with end of year things to plan and trying to finish up the school year on a good note.

April 3rd we had a bonfire for some students, actually, I should re-phrase that. The students planned it all!! It was their idea and we let them run with it, and it turned out pretty well! We all went to Dockweiler Beach and ate hot dogs and roasted smores, and some of the students there had never made them before! They were international students, and they loved it :)


This was Karlene, Shannon, Elizabeth and myself at the bonfire!!


The fire was HUGE - embers flying everywhere, as this pic shows!!


This is Kaylynn and I! She is an exchange student from Singapore and she is also my surfing buddy :) I'm super sad she has to leave at the end of the semester though :(

Then on Sunday was EASTER!! I love Easter because it just gives so much hope and it's not about the peeps, the bunnies or the chocolate eggs (although those are nice) but it's about the hope we have through the free gift of salvation! How amazing is that?!?! What a great God we serve, who wanted to reconcile us to Himself so much that He decided to sacrifice His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, so that we could have the *option* of receiving true life! I think that's the most amazing part - not that once Jesus died and rose again everyone was saved, but that everyone has the *potential* to be saved! It's still our choice!! He just wanted to give us an even easier way to Him, so now we don't need to go through any rituals, any specific people, no, all we have to do is admit we're sinners (Rom. 3:23), believe that Jesus came down and died for our sins (Rom. 6:23) and commit ourselves to Him to receive true life (Rom. 10:9-10)!! Man oh man, I love Easter :) And of course, I love hanging with my extended family because they are amazing!! I thank God every day that He gave me not only a great immediate family, but also a wonderful extended family that actually loves and cares about each other!


This is me with my partner-in-crime, I mean, my cousin Emily. She is one of the most fun people I know who can make me laugh no matter what. Basically I love her and think she's a stud :)


This is Emily and I with two of our younger cousins, Kylee and Taylor. They're basically the new "Emily and Courtney" for the younger generation :) the torch has been passed...

And then this past weekend we had our annual Bike/Blade/Walk-a-thon to help raise money for summer missions and projects and we all raised almost $10,000!! The most we've ever raised that I know of!! YAY!! God is so good :D But I shall save that one for the next post, because I fear this one is too long....but fear not, the next post will have pictures of Neil and Melinda (my boss and his wife) in the amazing "clothing" we made them wear because we raised a certain amount :) So stay tuned...




and here is the funny of the day:

Fabulous Friday

So I am making today's post short and sweet, basically saying two things:

1.) I am NOT a fan of the new "no visitors allowed" policy for USC football. If you haven't heard about it you can read about it here:

http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/033010aaa.html

Basically it says that only immediate family and "pre-approved" guests will be allowed to go to the practices now!! Sad...because I've gone to a few of them and they're really fun, but I guess they're trying to crack down on the possibility of players catching the eyes of agents perhaps?? I don't know, and I'm sure this decision was made by a lot of people and not just Coach Kiffin, but still, this is not making me like the guy...

2.) 153 days until the first USC football game!!!!! WOOT!!! FIGHT ON!!!!



I hope you have a wonderful Friday!!!