"This is how we know what love is, that Christ laid down His life for us, so we too should lay down our lives for others." 1 John 3:16

Monday, January 31, 2011

California coast weekend

Last weekend I had the privilege to "tour" the coast with one of my best friends! The occasion? Her engagement! I am so excited for her and her new fiance' as they embark on a new journey together! I have the honor to be in their wedding and support this lovely couple. I was able to find a ride to meet her in San Jose. From there we drove to San Louis Obispo to meet her fiance' for dinner, and then we carried on to her sister's place in Santa Barbara. The drive flew by as we chatted away about life. While in Santa Barbara with some of her close friends and family, she tried on a bunch of wedding dresses and me and some of her bridesmaids tried on bridesmaids dresses! After a long day shopping, we said goodbye to her friends and drove right back up to SLO! After spending the night in a garage (haha, that's another story), we continued our journey to her studio apartment in San Francisco. What a cute place she has there! It was fun to galavant around the city and sight see! It was a fun weekend that I won't forget :)



Here are some snapshots...

















A little Anthropology



... and David's Bridal























San Francisco!





















Oh, H&M..




Our date night in, provided by Trader Joes!
















Beautiful Golden Gate Bridge


 














Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Jesus HA ahaha

It was almost 70 degrees outside today!

Cierra and I are constantly overwhelmed with creativity in this culture.  Its so much fun...

Here is a piece I painted a few days back...Cierra did an amazing one too, I will have to put that up soon...
God is destroying old mindsets, one of which is a poverty mindset!  We now are looking at the world in a completely different way!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Have You Ever Had a Sobering Thought? What About the Opposite?

It has been exciting this week getting back into the swing of things here in Redding as we dive into school and homework! This week has also been tough on us financially. I have been trying to set up massage appointments for some extra money ( I'm a Nationally Certified Massage Therapist in case you didn't know ;) )  and Jason has been keeping his eyes open for jobs. It has been hard to balance the "rest" that we feel God calling us to and the "responsibilities" of working.

We are in need of monthly support to help pay our bills and groceries. We have decided to stop driving our car and have downgraded our phone plan.    School is completely paid off and we just need a little more for our upcoming mission trip in March, $140 for me and $95 for Jason.  Praise God!  Just yesterday, friends handed us $60 in cash that covered the rest of our utilities for January.  We can easily survive on $800-$1000 a month.  We are open to your ideas and financial support.

Pride tells me to not ask for support at all, that God will provide no matter what I do.  Love compels me to be honest and vulnerable, relying on others.  Thank you!

Testimonies! (as shared by Jason)

This last Thursday we hit the streets for our weekly treasure hunt and got to see God touch peoples lives in amazing ways!

We stopped a guy and his wife about to go into a chinese restaurant and after praying for his newly replaced hip we saw his mobility go from a 10 (not very mobile but able to walk with a cain) to a 4!  He walked right in to get his food, holding his cain under his arm.  They were both encouraged and exclaimed how they felt special that we had stopped just for them.

After praying for a few other people we came across a young guy who asked us if we had any money...which is sorta funny considering the first part of this post!  I asked if we could pray for him and he exuberantly said YES!  He went on to explain that every time he closes his eyes he sees a pentagram, lifting up his sleeve he revealed a festering red scar where he cuts himself in worship to demons and he then shared with tears in his eyes that his little daughter was being molested by people in the house that he is staying in.  My heart broke for this young man and I was burning for love for him as we immediately began to minister to him.  The more we prayed the calmer he got but after only a few minutes he quickly excused himself to be able to catch the bus he was waiting for.  We watched him run off, knowing that God was not done with him, even if we were for that time.  God's love is jealous as the grave!

Have you ever had a sobering thought?  For me its often times finances or "the future" or something.

Have you ever had the opposite?  For me, its what Jesus did for me on the Cross! HA
I don't have to work for his love.  I don't have to try and do "things" for Him.  He gives me gifts to play with and joy to make me smile. Once I realize how God sees me,  holy, righteous, as royalty...then I stop acting like what I was before I met Jesus, a sinner.  HA ha.

Just last night we were invited to a "Jesus Party" at some house we had never been to before.  Needless to say we met some amazing people from Oregon and spent about 2 or 3 hours prophesying and ministering to a group of young people in town for JESUS CULTURE.  

I painted again last night while listening to Benjamin Dunn.  Check out his new album Circus of Love on iTunes! Or go to his website HERE.

 
Click HERE to donate! Love you guys!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

Can you believe it's 2011?!

For Christmas, Jason and I got the opportunity to spend the holiday with my family in southern California! We had such a wonderful time with my family and extended family on my dad's side. It was fun to watch Jason's responses while we were celebrating with my amazing, loud mexican relatives. Such different family dynamics create so much flavor... I love it! It was great to see family I hadn't seen in a while and a couple of my best friends added a warmth every Christmas should have! It was hard saying goodbye to my family after 10 days of visiting. I don't know if I realized how much I missed them!

It was nice to have a change of pace and be refreshed by the love of my family. For new years, we had a chill dinner with a couple of our new friends from BSSM and counted in the new year with a youtube re-run of New York's celebration. Ahh, the simple life :)

Many Blessings from the both of us to you and your family this new year! We are excited to see what God will bring. :)

c