Disneyland!

I haven't had the chance to write about my fun adventure to California with my mumsy! It all starts with our birthdays... back in November she turned 50 and back in April I turned 21! So we decided to make a huge party out of it and head to Disneyland! So we drove.... well I drove and pretty fast at that (I was pretending I was in an illegal road race like the show Drive! haha). So we got to our hotel which was halfway between Disneyland and Newport and the lady was nice enough to let us check in early! So naturally we hit the beach. Originally we were going to go to Disneyland that night but since we never get to go to the beach we decided to stay at Newport Beach. And we just stayed and ate on the beach on the dock and to our surprise we saw 3 dolphins!!! It was amazing! So after some tanning, walking around, and eating... we decided to sleep.

Saturday we spent 15 hours at Disneyland and we got Hopper tickets and were able to check out California Adventures too! It was so much fun! And California Adventures was so cool! There was a roller coaster there and I forced my mommy to ride it 3 times in a row! haha It was seriously amazing! What else did we do? We rode all the totally awesome rides at Disneyland at least twice. My mom had never ridden Space Mountain so we did that first. And then of course the Star Wars ride, Pirates of the Carribean ride, Indiana Jones, Splash Mountain, the bobsled one, and Thunder Mountain. California Adventures had this one ride that was based on a crazy road in CA and we thought it looked cute... NO it was insane and scary!!! We hated it. Funny thing was that there were these two grown men riding behind us and they were freaked out too! As the
day went on...and on and on the sun started to go down and we wanted to watch the Fantasia show on the lake thingy. Anyway about this time I started to get pissed because of all the stupid people everywhere. But it was amazing and right after it was over we ran to Indiana Jones to ride it one more time. By now it's about 10:15. And finally we thought we'd ride the train that goes around the park just for a nice peaceful time. So that was our day in a short summary. We had a lot of fun... minus the pissyness near the end of the 15 hours. haha

On Sunday we went to this PCA church I looked up online. While I was looking I realized that there were a lot of Korean churches down there so when we walked up to the church and saw a bunch of Korean people. So we were kind of nervous, but they just came right up to us and welcomed us and just genuinely cared that we were there. It was a really tiny church maybe only 30 people. But I think everyone came up to great us! But ya, it was pretty cool seeing a different church! Then we went back to the beach... I got a bad sunburn and we drove home. We sang a lot and car danced a lot! haha So yay for hanging out with my mommy for a whole weekend by myself! YAY!

To see more pictures and they're all wonderful!... go to my "Family Photos" to the right! wu wu

Wide Awake

It's currently 1:37 in the am... why am I still up?? Ya... I have no idea. I was finishing my final 2 projects for school, but I finished them at 12:00 or maybe 12:30. And I have to get up early to teach my final lesson for my practicum. While lying here trying to sleep a couple things hit me... first, since we're talking about school, I'm a senior! A SENIOR! ahhh! Amanda and I were talking about graduation and how exciting it will be, but at the same time it's pretty sad too because I've gotten really close to here this year. But I guess we still have a whole year so I won't dwell on that. But it does make me wonder if I've changed. I mean, I know I have... but I guess I just don't see it myself. Have I become unrecognizable to people? Or have they just accepted whatever I've changed into and moved on with life?

Second thing that hit me actually happened a couple days ago when I was helping Amanda move. We passed by a cemetery and it hit me that that's where one of my high school friends is buried and I remembered it was almost July and he had died back on Jul 3, 2003. He died in a car accident which makes me think of my own driving. So back to sitting in bed wide awake... I could not believe that I totally forgot that my grandma died June 24, 2003! I couldn't believe I forgot, so that made me sad. I miss her. But I look at how close my grandpa and uncles have gotten and how close we've gotten to them and I just wish she could see that. So me, being morbid... thought of the rest of my friends and family who have died in the past couple years, my great grandma Mabel Turman, Andrea, Carley, Brian, Jenn's mom, Natalie's mom, that's all that come to mind right now.

This leads me to my next slew of thoughts. Our women's group in our church is reading Hearts of Fire. It's pretty amazing. It's about women and their families and friends around the world would have suffered for their beliefs. This past chapter was about a missionary women who's husband and 2 boys were burned alive in their jeep in a village in India. This women's reaction was so amazing to me. She seemed so quick to forgive. And I know that it takes hard work and eventually she also had to test that forgiveness because she came face to face with the man who planned the murder. It's just crazy to me, I know how I would act in that situation... I would be a huge pity party and close off the world. I would be angry, bitter, and mean. I wouldn't want to forgive that fast! How selfish am I? SERIOUSLY! And even looking at my life now. I say I have forgiven, but I still dwell on it. It's so hard for me to get out of my angry, selfish moods. I'm pathetic... But reading this story gives me hope that it can be done. And I know that it was all God working in her so that's very comforting.

And other than that I've just been so busy. I feel like I've just been going from one thing to the next, living on fast food, and practically turning my car into a 2nd home. I was reading through my journal tonight (yes I still keep a written journal) and it seems like I always write when God has turned my nasty heart around. I guess I'm just too ashamed to share the nasty heart with anyone. Although I had written a long blog that would have shown the very true me... but I erased it, I guess because I didn't want people judging me. But the fact of the matter is that I'm a huge mess. I'm a tangle web of sin and garbage. And the thing with me... is that I do see my sin but I just dwell on it and I complain about it and I throw a huge pity party with extra pity on top. It's amazing how I can be so self involved. It's amazing that I can feel so distant from people and not do a thing to try and fix it and sometimes not even want to fix it. Bah I don't know. Perhaps it's the fact that it's now 2:14 am and I'm still not tired, I just want to keep writing! But I think I should stop for now. Maybe try to sleep since tomorrow will defiantly be too long if I don't get some shut eye.

frick

My stupid cat peed on all my clean cloths... that pretty much sums up the reality of my week...

Weddings, Graduations, and Practicums

Congratulations again to my beautiful friends Whitnie and Bonny on their weddings! ^_^ I know they about a month ago but still!

Congratulations to all my friends who graduated this year! Especially Molly and Hannah! I love you and I cannot believe you're getting so old! AHHH!

Hannah!

Molly!

And sadly today was my last day with my fabulous 3rd grade practicum class. :-( My teacher was SO sweet! All the kids made cards for me and my teacher brought in a big cookie and we just had so much fun! I did not think that I could get so attached to a class in 5 weeks, but it happened. I haven't gotten attached to any classes in the past and I think it's all becuase I'm actually teaching them so maybe there's a special bond going on there! I'd put a picture of me and the class up but I guess it's not really a good idea... And sadly I still have 3 weeks until I'm finished with summer school AND I have to be in 2 different classes for the rest of my practicum! BOO!

Use Me Here

After a long day of starting my worrying up about my future, I was driving home tonight after a very fun time with Molly listening to my music and a song came on. It was a total God thing. The lyrics are:

Use me here, where I am.
I'm not going to pray anymore that you'll change your plan.
Despite my fear I place my life in your hands,
the future can wait tomorrow might be too late!
So Jesus use me here.

The song goes on, but it's just incredibly comforting. I wonder about where I'll end up and who with, if I'll stay in Vegas or leave to go somewhere else and I worry ALL THE TIME about the future. But the truth is that the future can wait and I'm here and now and God will use me while I'm here! Pastor always says "God doesn't call the qualified, he qualifies the called" And even though that scares me too it's nice to know that even if he does send me off away from everything I know and everything I depend on here, he will give me what I need to handle any situation!

I love little God moments like that. It's so silly for me to worry as much as I do....

As becuase I'm talking about being in my car and since I'm always in my car. Here are some fun pictures I have taken in my car! ^_^

Good grief!

Tobi sucked me into creating a blog so here goes nothing! I am of course not as artistic as Tobi so my writing is usually just a bunch of rambling.

This summer is an unusually busy one for me. I'm in the middle of my 8 week long summer courses and for the most part I love it. Monday through Thursday I'm in a 3rd grade classroom for 3 hours. And then I'm also taking two methods classes with this practicum, math and writing. So far I don't feel like I'm even learning anything important in those classes! But my practicum is really teaching me so much. My school is an at-risk school meaning the kids who go there are of lower income families and the school also doesn't get as much money as some of the others. I really feel like I need to be a teacher in one of these schools! And after these past 3 1/2 weeks I have never been more confident in what I need to be doing with my life. It's an amazing feeling to know that I will have a job that I can't wait to get up and go to! I have gotten really attached to the 17 kids in my class and I know it's going to be hard to leave them! This morning I even played tag with them before school but only because all the girls insisted on it! And they giggled the whole time and said "You're so funny Mrs. Thomas!" haha I could go on and on, but I'll save it for when I have some really good stories!

Other than that I'll be working 3 jobs this summer... one is for 3 weeks and I'm getting $1,500 for being a teacher's assistant for a high school program being held at UNLV. The other two are just lamo jobs that I'll be squeezing in between class.

July will be the best because of 4 things....PYA, the church camp I am a counselor at! I still can't believe it's been a year since our last visit! Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and the new John Krazenski movie! Sooo cute! *sigh* HORRAY! What a summer I must say!

Time to hit the books and projects and many papers! I'm sure I'll become addicted to this too so stay tuned!