Get Oregon-ized!

Well it is now 100% official! Kory and I are moving to Oregon!!! YAY!! I am beyond thrilled about the future! When Kory called to tell me it was a done deal, I was in Hastings and I was literally cheering and dancing around. I am sure I got a couple strange looks but I didn't even notice because I was too busy celebrating!

Kory will be the youth minister at Tri-City Church of Christ. There are three little towns all together in the SW corner of the state where we will live. Before you ask, let me answer a few questions that I know you are wondering. 1)No, we are not married or engaged. 2)No, I do not have a job there, nor do I have any leads so far. 3)No, we do not have a place for either one of us to live. 4)Yes, it is very far away from Texas. AND 5)Yes, I am VERY excited about this move!

We will be moving on June 14 or so, depending on how soon we can get everything together and ready. It will be a 3-day drive, but I am sure we can make this a fun road trip! I will continue to update as I find out more details and make the move out West. I am confident God will be with me every step of the way and I can't wait to start this next adventure in my life!

I have never been to Oregon, but have heard from EVERYONE that it is absolutely gorgeous! Here are a few pictures of the beautiful state for you to feast your eyes upon :)

George Bush visits Artesia

My parents and I attended a scholarship reception yesterday for the Artesia High School graduating class of 2009. The Chase's are a VERY generous family in Artesia that gives away a ton of scholarships each year for Artesia students to attend college.

It was held in the Bulldog Pit, which is the AHS basketball stadium. The students who received the scholarships in 2007, 2008 and 2009 were seated on the floor.

I stole these next few pictures off Facebook, but they were better than the ones I got on my camera. The keynote speaker was former President George W. Bush.

Artesia made National News because this is only the 2nd time Bush has made a public appearance since he left office (the other time was in Canada).

Moving from Europe back to Artesia, NM is quite a culture shock! If you don't know the area, it is a small town, Republican, conservative, predominantly Christian town in SE New Mexico with a population of about 15-20,000. I was looking at one of my friend's pictures on FB today and she had a picture of her with Mr. Bush. The caption to her picture was "He is the most amazing and intelligent man!" When I saw that, I just chuckled to myself because I thought of what people in Europe would say if they read that comment...or most people in America besides Texas and Southern New Mexico.

He mentioned at the beginning of his speech that is so good to be out of Washington. I can only imagine how glad he is to be visiting places where he is supported and thanked and encouraged more than he is hated and criticized.

So many people were living out their biggest dream by meeting him yesterday. People cried through his whole speech, waited in line for hours to see him and went CRAZY when he walked into the room. Kids were shaking and had sweaty palms as they nervously prepared to shake his hand. He really is a rock star around here :)

Ambigram Genius

If you haven't seen Angels and Demons yet, you are most definitely missing out. Get thee to a movie theatre immediately!

One of my pet peeves is when people watch a movie based on a book and then complain because the book was better. Well of course it is--get over it! They are two completely different mediums and I wish people could appreciate the movie as a movie and quit comparing it to the book. Yes, the story was altered a little for the movie, but it was done very well. 

It was awesome seeing so many places in the movie that I recently got to visit. I also re-read the book a couple weeks ago so it helped that the story was fresh in my mind. 

There are so many things I could say about this movie, but I will only say this. If you enjoyed the movie, you should read the book! It is fantastic in an altogether different way :) It is lengthy, but SO worth it. In fact, I think you should read all of Dan Brown's books because he is just that great. 

Getting Lost

I started watching Lost this past week and, of course, I am now addicted. I knew what I was doing when I started watching this show. Scrubs is now over and I felt the need for another addiction. I still watch The Office faithfully but I am all caught up on those episodes, so I decided I wanted a new show. I am almost finished with season 1 and I hear it only gets crazier and more confusing. I don't really have a lot to do these days, so I am enjoying spending hours watching this show without feeling guilty for not being productive. 

This show is really good at surprising you. Of course, I spend half the show trying to guess what is about to happen and just when I think I have it figured out, they throw me for a loop with something I never saw coming. Plus, there are SO many stinking questions to be answered, you can't look away for a minute or you miss something important. I guess that is how they get you hooked!

I do have one problem, however. I usually watch this on my laptop in my bedroom. That is fine during the day, but if I watch it at night with the lights off, I get too scared! haha  It isn't really a "scary" show, but it is very intense and there are lots of surprises! I jump a whole lot and find myself gripping my pillow for dear life because of the suspense. So, I am usually too wound up, scared or tense to fall asleep and have to watch an episode of The Office to calm down so I can go to bed. 

If you want to join the rest of the world in this obsession, you can watch every episode from all 5 seasons on abc.com. 

Georgetown Fun

All these pictures are courtesy of Kory's mom, Jackie. She took these last week while I was hanging out with the Mereness family in Georgetown and Austin.

Kory's hair really isn't quite as crazy as it looks at first. He was teaching me how to play WOW.

Sitting on the couch watching Wife Swap and eating Chex Mix

We went to play soccer in the park, but didn't last too long because it was SOO incredibly hot!

Downtown Austin right after we ate some yummy Mexican food at Rio Grande; No we didn't plan to match each other.

Kayaking on Town Lake--we got really wet but the cool water felt so good!

Oh how I love Austin! I will live here someday.

More Picture Fun

Hahaha I can't remember how this started, but it was a tradition every year of Master Follies for me to take a creepy prom picture with Danielle Gee :)

One of our Kappa mixers was "bad bridesmaid dresses" and I wore my mom's prom dress to the party. I am standing with Sara (Collins) Norman who was the bride.

One of my favorite Christmas traditions--Carol of the Lights at Texas Tech; with my best friend and room-mate Deonna (Neel) Wade

This picture was taken for my digital imaging class. Our theme for the week was shadows. Rynn Miller and I took this one in her grandparents' backyard.

This one was also for that class and was taken in Dallas. The theme was near and far.

Pictures

When I post a picture on my blog, how can I make it where you can click on the picture and enlarge it? It works when I put a picture from the internet on there, but not the pictures from my camera. Does anyone know how to fix that?

Speaking of pictures, here are a few random old pics just for fun:

This was my first time as a bridesmaid back in 2006. Now she is about to have a baby--crazy! I definitely don't feel like we're old enough for that! 

In honor of Mother's Day, here is a picture of my fantastic mom! I had just finished performing Pirates Who Don't Do Anything at my little brother's graduation party at church. He was SO embarrassed by me and I loved it! A lot of people tell me I look just like my mom but I don't really see it.

This was taken in Romania a few years back. I had gone all summer without DP and one of my fellow interns, KT, found one for me. This picture captures the sheer joy I was feeling at that moment!

This is also from Romania. I absolutely adore this kid! His name is Sam and his parents were the mentors for our missionary internship that summer. He and I are coloring on the train in this picture. He was the coolest little guy ever.

I have been going through lots of old pictures lately so I'll continue to post some of the ones I come across that make me smile when I see them.

Perfect Ending

Last night was the season finale for Scrubs and possibly the series finale. There are rumors that Scrubs will continue without Zach Braff and writer Bill Lawrence. Fans are dreaming up a thousand different scenarios about what will happen next. Personally, I hope Scrubs is over. It had a great 8 season run and this is the perfect time to end it.

My finale, last night's hour-long episode, was awesome! I loved it. I think it was the perfect way to end JD's time at Sacred Heart, as well as end the entire show. One of my very favorite parts was when he was looking into the future and Sam and Izzy got engaged! hahaha JD's reaction was so stinking hilarious. I love that guy! 

Yes, I definitely cried watching it last night, but I think a lot of it had to do with me realizing I am about to be saying some goodbyes of my own. If you don't know, I will be moving to Oregon in about six weeks. Kory accepted a youth ministry position there and we will both be moving to a tiny town in Southern Oregon called Myrtle Creek. 

I can see so many ways that my European adventures were God's way of preparing me for this next phase of life. For example, I am no longer scared to move to a new place far from home with no job or place to live. I feel confident searching for any job available and I trust God will provide. I don't worry too much about being away from all of my family and friends. And above all, I am REALLY excited for the adventures that lay ahead! 

Recent Pictures

Here are a few more pictures of some fun things I've done recently:

Chase Field--Arizona Diamondbacks Stadium

Diamondbacks beat Cubs 7-2

Inner Space Caverns with Kory in Georgetown, TX

Perfect Summer Day :)

Kory and I had such a great day today! We went to Lake Georgetown and went hiking and swimming. The weather was SO great! I LOVE SUMMER! :)

We are wearing our sweet Camelbacks that Kory bought for us!

Yes, apparently if Kory jumps off a cliff, I will too!

He is always showing off :)

Of course, he had to do some rock-climbing while we were there.

If that isn't special, I don't know what is ;)