Pasos 08-06

Amazing!!! I can't even describe what an amazing experience this trip was for all of us! I will write more detail about this trip soon...it's late right now.

Get ready, get set!

So. Tomorrow is D day. Leaving for Mexico with Pasos para todo la fin de semana. It will be an adventure. I promise I will take lots of pictures. I can't say that I am totally prepared for this. I really don't know what to expect, but I am open to what the Lord wants to do...so I'm going! Get ready 7 pm service, we're gonna be ready to rock, hope you have a good song lineup! haha.

Oh, and if you all care to check out my photographer friend Daniel, has posted a blog on tattoos and mine is the newest one up there. He's at www.snapphotography.blogspot.com. If I knew how to link, I would. I owe my blogging professor lots of money, so this one will have to wait 'till I have paid up. So, go check it out, suckas!

Did you miss me?

Yeah, guess I was going through a slow blogging time there. I don't know...just been busy. No excuse though. I understand if you have taken me off your subscriptions. Haha, but you know you enjoyed the ninja video! :) Well, things have been going good. We went to the beach yesterday, Doheny, was beautiful. It was Luke's first time. He and Logan had a blast! And I think I am a half a shade of the usual pale darker! Here's some pics. And my cute surfer brother!

White Ninja

The suspense is over.

My mom, my bro, and my sister came over for dinner tonight. I don't get to see my mom and my bro that often. Usually seems like once a month or something like that. That's pretty lame, especially since we live one exit away off the freeway. But, lately, I have been nervous to tell her something I knew she wouldn't agree on. About 2 months ago I got a tattoo. Yep. She had no idea I was planning on it. There's no way I was going to tell her beforehand. See, my mom and I have a different kind of relationship. She believes that she is my mom and not my "friend". She feels that she cannot allow me to freely tell her how I feel, and she doesn't believe she should support me no matter what. I understand and do think that as a mom, she should be able to share her opinion too. But there are some instances when a daughter just needs to talk, but she can't allow that. That is hard for me. So, I have been avoiding coming out and telling her. But, I knew I needed to say something for my sake. I couldn't keep it a secret. So I had planned on telling her. Well, when she came over, she wanted to see some pics from Luke's B-day. So I showed her the pics that were in my computer. Well, she saw one that showed my tattoo...and she said, "Melissa, you have a tattoo?" I was like, "Yeah." This was funny. The first thing she said was, "Read your Bible. It says not to get tattoos!". Well, I am glad that was over. Then she wanted to see if it was for real, so I had to show her. Poor mom, she probably was freaking out inside. I do appreciate her staying calm for the most part. My bro, who is 13, didn't know what to say. We are in such different spectrums of life. He is so controlled by what his parents want him to think, that he doesn't want to say his own thoughts. I love my bro, but I am glad my teenage days are over, I can now have an opinion of my own and make my own decisions.

Burg's last day.

My good friend Burgundy is starting a new job next week. We took some pics on her last day. This may not mean anything to all of you, but I am going to share anyway. This gal means something to me. We have shared so many laughs together...I will miss meeting her in the stock room at work to tell her my secrets, to vent to when the doctor is acting up, to cry with when it hurts, or to tell her to find the note I wrote in her locker I had taped shut. Wow. This brings me back to an earlier post when I wrote about different friends for different seasons. Well, it saddens me that she is leaving where we work together, but this friendship has definitely not lost its seasonings, um, well I mean, this bond is not over! I will miss sticking notes on her back, squirting water on her from across the room, and definitely miss the dancing and making stupid videos, and planning what our superpowers would be if we were mutants. I will now be the only left-handed person in the office again. But the memories I won't forget. :)

United

So, Monday night we went to go see United play in LA. Except...we didn't actually get to see them...or really hear them. You see, there were so many people trying to get in, that we never made it through the door. :( We were a bit bummed, but decided to make a good evening out of it. We ended up driving to Didi Reece (I don't have a clue if I spelled that right) for some ice cream. It took us a good 45 min. to get there, so the 5 of us ended up spending a lot of time together in the car that night. I was largely entertained by Los and J-Rocka in the front seat. It started to just get crazy especially when Sarah decided to dump water on the boys, they were acting up and deserved it, haha. I was feeling a little homesick though. Now when I say homesick, I mean that when I am in an unfamiliar area, I feel a bit cautious of my surroundings, when nothing looks or feels familiar. But, being with the group I was with made it all the better. It was a fun night and I would do it again.

Luke's first party! Pirate style.

We swam, we ate, we watched the little one make a mess.

this simple post turned into my testimony

So this isn't going to be a silly story or anything. This is real. This is life and all it's emotions. Today is Sunday. Normally, I look forward to going to church. Well, not this Sunday. I was feeling down and blue and stressed out. I made all the excuses to not go. I had a birthday party for my son yesterday, my place is a mess. I am exhausted. The kids are tired...blah, blah, blah. I have had this mood on me all day that just won't quit. I just feel overwhelmed and run down. I am not the energizer bunny. Sometimes I feel helpless and I look at my kids and realize they are the ones that are and they NEED me. There are no "breaks" or "time-outs". So, is this how life is just going to be and I need to get used to it? I don't want pity, just comfort. Which, many cannot even fathom. I have a wonderful sister that helps me all the time. We are so close, when I am stressed, she knows. I am the kind of person that thrives on love and encouragement. I need to hear, "mel, chill". I need to be loved on and accepted. Don't we all?

Well, I did make it to church. And, it is so crazy awesome how the Lord moves when we are obedient. I felt like Pastor Matt's message was written just for me, how special is that! He was reflecting on Paul when he was imprisoned. How the Lord used him to share the word even in those circumstances. Pastor was speaking on how in the worst circumstances, the Lord can use them for good. I do believe this. I have had a bad circumstance. He was talking on how the Lord does not cause evil. He has given us free will to make our own choices, but there are consequences to sin, whether it be the consequence to your sin or someone else's.

I was married for almost 5 years when my husband announced he no longer wanted to be married. Shocked, hurt, disgusted, I wanted to work it out. I for the life of me couldn't convince him to go to counseling. He had his mind made up, he wanted out. Well, perfect timing. I had just found out I was almost 3 months pregnant and we had a 2 year old. Well, come to find out, he had been seeing another girl. There was a whirlwind spinning in my head. I felt sick to my stomach. I hurt so badly. I felt the ultimate betrayal from the one I had committed to in good and bad. Why? is what I cried to the Lord. I lfelt like it was all my fault and there was nothing I could do to fix this; but these things were a lie from the devil. This was not my doing, and the Lord CAN and WILL mend me and my children. He will use us for His glory and already is doing so. One thing I do want is to be able to help out anyone that has been in the same circumstance or close to this, I know all situations are different, but there is hope always! So Matt, to answer your question, yes, the Lord did get my attention and I am going to focus it on Him and know that there is glory in the midst. There is so much more I felt tonight, got out of the message, the worship, from just speaking to the Lord, and in my story. But, I am going to end now. I thank the Lord for the blessing I have to be a mother, I don't EVER wish I could change anything. I definitely feel the Lord has made me a stronger person through all of this. I could not have been sane without Him.

So Slick

This isn't something you hear of everyday. I actually had an incident today that involved a friend of mine who admitted to spying. It involved a certain text message on my phone that had a picture attatched. Well, this friend decided it was a good time to share with the group of friends that were present on my innocent lunch break...and revealed his/her findings. I do appreciate honesty, but there are no rumors here to spread. It felt like someone had been reading my diary.

I have never had anyone do that before, read my diary that is. Because I am slick. When I was, let's say 9, I had a diary. It had a lock. Which the code was MADD. This is how I was so slick. I figured that if I started off every entry, Dear Al, instead of Dear Diary, that whoever picked up the book would think, "Oh, this can't be a diary. This is to Al." Yep. Slick I was. And it worked. My diary is full of entries to a certain non-existent person named "Al". And no one had figured it out. ever.

So, maybe I should put a lock on my phone...nah.