Continued Celebration

Tonight I rejoice in the continuation of my birthday celebration. I got 2 fun birthday presents, one from my brother and his wonderful wife and the other from my friend and fellow youth leader Jenna. Both gifts included cute scarves which will be so fun to wear once the weather stops being crazy.

I was also given this adorable cake...

Made by the one and only, very talented Emily. I love feeling birthday love :)

29 and counting...or is it holding?

So tonight I rejoice in the chance to celebrate 29 great years of life and the promise that the Lord will continue to lead me and guide me through the next 29 and then some. I have quite a few things to rejoice in about the great day as well.

I'll start with a great gift from my sister Rebecca. She got me the cutest outfit, complete with accessories. Those who know me know that I definitely find accessories worth rejoicing in:) She also went in with me on buying this amazing cd that came out today...

So, so good. Can't tell you how many times I've already listened to it today. I rejoice in the fact that I am confident that someday I will have the kind of love talked about on this cd. For more info on it, check this out Tyrone and Elina.

Next I rejoice in my amazing mommy and the chance to spend birthday lunch with her. Check out our order number on our receipt, from this great place called The Habit, which I've been wanting to try for awhile now...

Who can tell me why it's special???

Here we are waiting for our yummy lunch

Mom convinced me I should spend the night last night, "so I wouldn't be alone on my birthday", so I spent most of the day at her house. Late afternoon I headed home so I could get ready and then head over to my great friends, the Martinez's. We didn't do a big dinner or anything with my fam because I am going to the Rascal Flatts concert in a couple weeks with my mom and sisters. You can bet I'll be rejoicing that night:) The Martinez fam blessed me with a yummy dinner and an even yummier cake (yes, I broke my no sweets fast, birthdays are the time for things like that). Here's a few fun pics from the night.

So good!

Love those girls so much! Lissette also blessed me with an amazing gift of 3 candles/candle accessories and 2 super cute shirts. That girl is seriously one of the most generous people I know and generosity is definitely worth rejoicing in! 

I also rejoice in the hour+ conversation I had with my baby sister to end the evening (that's why this is posting after midnight. haha). Gosh I miss that girl. I think our phone chat was her lil gift to me. And it was a good one!

Lastly I rejoice in the promise of this verse...

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

There are many, many things about my life about which I feel quite uncertain and in many ways a birthday is as good a time as any to freak out about those things. But, I'm not going to do that. I am going to rejoice in the fact that every single moment of my existence is in the hands of my Lord and Savior. He knows what he's doing. May the next year of my life and many more after that be a reflection of Him and His great majesty. Thank you Lord for blessing me with life, 29 years ago...

Air Conditioning

Tonight, in this extremely ridiculous heat, I rejoice in the fact that I was able to sit in Starbucks for hours earlier today, working on homework and job applications and such, but most importantly, taking advantage of their air conditioning:) I would not have survived without it!

Life Group

Tonight I rejoice that my life group started up again today. Even though there were only 3 of us here today. I have faith we are going to grow. And it is good to once again have the opportunity to talk about what God is teaching me with people my own age, and not just with high school students :)

Lost my job

Tonight I rejoice in the fact that, once again, I don't have a job. Now, that might sound strange at first. But, I am choosing to look on the bright side of things. Not having a job means I can go out to lunch with friends for my birthday. It means I can go with my sister to buy her wedding dress. It means I can go to disneyland one last time before my pass expires. It means I can ride with my mom and be at the ladies retreat on time next weekend. It means that I don't have to stress about how much homework I have this week. It means I don't have to provide care for the most undisciplined two year old I have ever met. And lastly, it means that I can rejoice in the fact that God is in control, not me, and he certainly must have something better for me.

Pearly Whites

Tonight I rejoice in the fun that can be had with high school kids, especially when they are willing to let their guard down a bit and look and feel a little silly. We had game night tonight for youth group and played this crazy game called "silent football". Not at all what it sounds like at first. But still tons of fun and lots of laughter. I love those "kids"!

Spiritual Journey

Tonight in class we had to share a quick version of our testimony or "spiritual journey" to speak in Psych and Spiritual Development lingo:) I rejoice in the chance to share a bit of how God has worked in my life in the last almost 29 years and also simply the fact that he has. I also rejoice in the blessing of hearing and being encouraged by the stories of others' lives. All of our stories are so different and unique and yet each one has played out exactly the way the God has ordained.

Excited

Yes. I know I forgot to blog last night. Yesterday was a long day and I crashed out for the last part of it. Had I blogged I would have rejoiced in the opportunity I had to learn from those more knowledgeable and experienced in the area of missions. Which leads to today.

I rejoice in the excitement God is stirring in both me and my brother and many others in our church and how he used the mission forum these last few days to continue to increase our excitement. God is doing amazing things all over the world and the possibility of becoming an even larger part of those things is so exciting I can hardly contain myself! Can't wait to see where he takes our church, and more specifically me, in the coming months and years!

Missions Forum

Tonight I rejoice in the privilege of being able to attend the sbc missions forum with my brother to learn about ideas and opportunities for missions for our church. It started today and goes for the next 3 days. Today was great and I'm excited to learn lots more over the next couple of days!

JOB!!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!

Tonight I am rejoicing in the fact that after just over 4 months of not working, I got a job!!! I'm going to be a nanny to two adorable little boys. 2 years and 3 months. I don't really remember much else about them at this point, haha, not even their names. But don't you worry. I'm sure you will be hearing much about them over the next few months :)

Last Minute Lunch

I had my day today pretty much planned out as far as a few things I needed to do around the house and some errands I needed to run. But, in the midst of that I got to have lunch with my mommy, my grandma, and my baby sister, as a spur of the moment thing. I rejoice that I have family members who are worth rushing through my time at Target in order to go eat with them. Now THAT'S saying something :)

Sister in Christ and Silly Replacement

Today I had the blessing of going to lunch with someone from church who simply wanted to bless me with encouragement and the knowledge of having gone the road before me. I rejoice in the blessing of God using his people to encourage and support me.

My other rejoicing is kind of silly but I think it is also important to rejoice in the small things. I rejoice in the fact that the apple store replaced my computer charger, that hasn't been working correctly, for free today. I can now use my computer without having to worry about saving battery life in case my charger decides not to work that day.

Psych and Spiritual Development

Tonight I rejoice in the blessing of being able to go to school at Biola and learn so much about myself and more importantly about my amazing God and how he works, especially in our lives. I think for the next not quite a year (can you believe that's all I have left? I rejoice in that too!) that many Thursdays will be filled with some sort of rejoicing having to do with school. It's just hard to find something much better in my life right now. It is definitely the place where I am growing the most in my walk with the Lord, and that is certainly worth rejoicing in. That is another thing I can be thankful for. I probably wouldn't have rejoiced this much in school had I gone to college "when I was supposed to".

Sick. Ew

I laid in bed all day. So, I guess I rejoice in the fact that this day is over.

Bed

I'm not feeling so hot. So, tonight I rejoice that I get to go to bed.

Wedding dress...

My sister have been featured a lot lately:) So I could simply rejoice in the blessing of sisters. But, I also rejoice in the blessing, privilege, and excitement of wedding dress shopping with my lil sis. So fun! :)

Singing Sister!

I rejoice in the opportunity to go watch my baby sister in her first choir concert tonight. Thankfully it wasn't too far away and it was definitely worth the drive. I also rejoice in the freedom and ability to praise and worship God through music.

Here is a small sampling of the evening...

Don't mind the annoying part at the beginning where I had the camera turned the wrong way:)

Sister Adventures and An Increase In Knowledge

Tonight I'm rejoicing in the fact that my brother getting married meant I got not one but three new sisters. No matter what people, including our brothers, say, the Jones and Gallina girls have decided that we are all sisters now :)

So today we had a sister adventure. Our wonderful Jessica, who I will admit is the true link in all of this, planned out an adventurous day down to timing and options and sent it out to all of us a few days ago. We thought today would be a good day to head out to Riverside so that those of us who haven't could see Rachel and Ashley's dorms in addition to Rebecca seeing Rachel and Ashley since she just got home and they didn't come home this weekend. The morning started with Starbucks, of course:) Gosh I'm thankful for gift cards! Those are worth rejoicing in too. After our much needed Starbucks run, Jessica, Emily, Bec, and I headed out to Cal Bap. We all met up at Rachel's apartment around 9:30 and spent some time there just hanging out, meeting her roomies, Bec sharing some of her fun stories, and getting the news that Rachel won an IPad! That's worth rejoicing in too. I'm sure I'll get some opportunities to play around on that :) From there we headed to Ashley's dorm for a quick peek at it. By this time we were ready for lunch so we started our Riverside adventure at In-n-out, per Bec's request of course. The things we miss when away. Here's a few pics from that...

Attractive I know

From lunch we headed to antiquing and thrifting which included some of this...

I rejoicing in the ability to look ridiculous and laugh at yourself.

I also saw this which I thought was a PERFECT description of the goal of my blog. It wasn't worth buying but was definitely worth taking a picture of... 

 After some fun shopping we headed back to CBU for a bit more hanging out and some fun picture taking. We took quite a few but thought I'd just give you a quick sampling. Em and I enjoyed the fountain. I rejoice in simply having that girl in my life!

We also took this picture...

As a replica of this picture (though I see that we did it backwards)...

I think a majority of us would agree that we've all improved in the last 5 years. Maybe getting older isn't so bad after all :)

All in all it was a super fun and bonding day. I would stop there but feel I should also rejoice in the opportunity to attend a service at Eastside Christian Church and hear from a panel of different religious leaders. I thought the evening was presented very well and greatly enjoyed learning more about other religions, in order to be more fully equipped when speaking to them or of them. I also rejoice in the fact that the truth of God's word is so clearly evident (for me at least) and the promise that God's truth will prevail.

Last but not least, for those that noticed, yes, I did not blog last night. I simply forgot and did not remember until sometime this morning. Fyi, if I would have blogged, I would have rejoiced in hanging out with my cute lil baby second cousin and in spending an evening with good friends look at beautiful jewelry.

Welcome Home Engaged Sister!

My sis and her fiance came home tonight. I rejoice in their safe arrival and all the fun and exciting times ahead for our family. So blessed to add great people to our family :)

Leader Meeting

I rejoice in the blessing of serving the high school students at church alongside some great people! We had a leaders meeting tonight. Planning, praying, and dreaming for the group is always a blessing!

Fall Lunch and Last Minute Coffee Date

Today I babysat Ava, which is always worth rejoicing in, but I've done that already:)

Instead I'm rejoicing in her amazing mommy and the chance to have lunch together. Kristi served me a yummy fall lunch of grilled cheese and tomato soup with a fall candle lit and fall decor all around. Such an inviting atmosphere. But, even better than the atmosphere was the conversation. I love spending time with my best friend!

I also love spending time with Jackie and rejoice in our last minute coffee date tonight. I wasn't really wanting to go home after leaving my parents earlier so I thought to myself "who would be interested in hanging out?" And of course Jackie came to mind! And we had a great conversation. I'm blessed to be challenged and encouraged by her.

Happy Birthday Jess!

I rejoice in having Jessica Jones as my sister and in celebrating her 21 years on this earth! Had a fun day today spending time with both her family and mine at the Getty Villa. I'm blessed to be related, by both blood and marriage, to such amazing people.

A New Brother, A College Sister, and a Great Church Family

It became facebook official today that my sister is engaged! Even though I've known for a few days (but still haven't seen them since they're busy traveling the world) I rejoice in being able to share her excitement with so many people all at once! :)

I also got to spend some good time with my baby sister, who is home from college for the weekend. Who could have known I would miss her so stinkin much?! I rejoice in having a sister worth missing and that she is close enough to come home on occasion  :)

Lastly, I rejoice in being blessed with a great church family and the freedom to worship Christ together as a body of believers. We celebrated our church's 45th anniversary today and it was a great day of awesome music, challenging messages, and great fellowship.

Breakfast with the Parents and Books with my Baby

I went out to breakfast with mommy and daddy this morning, then I spent a majority of the morning hanging out with them. I rejoice in the blessing of having parents who want to spend time with me and for whom I feel the same. Don't know where I'd be without them!

From mommy and daddy's I headed over to hang with the cutest lil one year old girl I know, Miss Ava Jean. We read books and danced and spoke gibberish all afternoon. How can I not rejoice in the blessing of having my bff's lil girl to fill my mommy desires???

Old Pictures

So I decided that today would be a good day to get all the pictures that I have printed over the last five years actually in albums. I rejoice in the feeling of being a bit more organized and actually feeling like I did something with my life today:)

Here is a sampling of a few of the ones I ran across during this process...

I also rejoice in the blessing of special memories captured in pictures!

His Yoke

So I have really been struggling these last few days. The whole reason I started this blog was to help me focus on the good in my life, even in the midst of not always good times. But, because of that, there have been days where I've felt like I am being fake and not reflecting the genuine me, which is something I have also really been striving for lately, genuineness. In a lot of ways not only do I want this blog to be a reflection of good, I want it to be a true reflection of me, which is definitely not always good. How do I keep a balance?

For tonight's post I am going to strive to do that, in the best way I know how, but am still continuing to learn and grow in. In the midst of all the questions, and struggling, and growing, and changing, and seeking, I rejoice in the truth of these verses, that I was reminded of in class tonight...


²⁸"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

God knows everything I'm going through right now. Not only does he know it, he wants to bear the burden of it. I am going to strive to take his yoke and let him take care of all the other crap in my life. Yes, I said crap :)

Friend and Food Pantry

I spent the morning helping my good friend Laura shop for and organize the food pantry at her church where she works. Then she bought me lunch. Helping those in need and spending time with a good friend are both worth rejoicing in.