Cyber Monday?

This is seriously the first year I've heard of Cyber Monday, and it seems like it's been around for years. How have I missed this? It's kind of lame that they added another day after Black Friday...Might as well make other days of the week like Thanksgiving is Thin Thursday or something.

ANYWAYS, for those who are planning to buy stuff this Christmas, check out this video:


I love Trade as One, and end up buying stuff from them every Christmas. It's such a blessing to me and others to be able to support a trustworthy organization that is bringing justice to the world, including America too! Check them out!

Happy Birthday Debra

Debra is the woman who brings me inspiration. Seriously, I'm so glad she started blogging again because whenever I see her art/collages and read her thoughts, I am inspired to blog. Took me a while to pick it up again, but in honor of it being her birthday, she is my inspiration...

Debra and I met the summer of 2004. I love telling the story. I picked her up from the airport with her name on a sign because I didn't know what she looked like. I was welcoming her to the Summer Ministry Project, which is an internship that my church, Peninsula Covenant Church, does every summer. We had coffee for a couple hours while we waited for another intern to come, but as we talked we instantly connected. Although it was just a summer, we kept in touch over the distance, got to spend another summer together, and have seen each other as much as we can over the past few years.
She has been my friend through many ups and downs, but she is one of my friends that I can say God truly connected our hearts together.

With a voice that awakens the soul, and a compassion for others that goes so deep, she impacts lives around her in many ways. She was the main person who walked through one of the darkest seasons of my life, and friends that do that end up being friends for life.
At the moment, she is living in a suburb of Chicago, going to Trinity Seminary, married to Nate, and has a beautiful daughter named Annabel, with a delightful voice herself.

I could probably talk forever about the things I love about Debra, but I feel like they may mean the world to me, and not so much to the world.
Debra is insightful. When you talk with her, she listens with her heart. She cares deeply, but also has a playful spirit. She is a touch person, and speaks such wonderful words of encouragement. She delights in the small things, like twitterpaited trees, red leaves, sun and rainbows, etc. Her being a mom is so natural as she just delights in her daughter so much. She is a faithful friend, who gives selflessly to those around her. She is real about who she is and what she is thinking, even if it seems to be the "wrong" thing to think. She trusts that God is in control and communicates that abandonment of worry to Him in a way that encourages me. She is a woman of intuition and God speaks to her in powerful ways. She loves God, loves Nate, loves Annabel, and loves coffee. ;)
I got the privilege of visiting her just a couple of months ago, and one of my hopes and dreams is that some day, we'll live in the same city and get a chance to either live together or love on people together. She is a sister to me. I love her and miss her.

So Happy Birthday Debra! I'm so glad that God created you.

Katie

If you were a first grader, the first three questions you would ask "Miss Majewski" are as follows:
1) Why are you so short?
2) Why are your feet so small?
3) Have you ever been to Washington?

Now it may seem like I'm describing a midget from the forests of Washington, but on the contrary...this is one of my closest friends who has never been to Washington, and her feet are proportionate to her height.


I feel intimidated even trying to write a post about Katie because words can't describe all the things I love about her. (Also, you don't want to mess with someone who can look like this...)

But seriously, that's actually what took me so long to write another post because I had planned on my post being about Katie, but I couldn't think of how to say what I loved about her. There are so many unique and lovely things about Katie, so here are just a few things for you to know about my friend:

Katie is my favorite adventurer, and I love to go on adventures with her.
She finds the most unique events and places to go, and will bring people with her. For example, we've been to Año Nuevo, a place where the elephant seals live, and a monarch garden, where all the monarchs migrate to each year. She found a little store on the side of the road where you can buy items through an "honor till" which basically means there is a cash box...you put the right amount in for what you are buying and take the right amount out. She goes to craft fairs, and we've gone kiwi picking, strawberry picking, and ollalaberry picking (well I wish I was there for the ollalaberries).

Katie is on a mission to find the best ice cream out there.
She will starve herself to have lots of the best.
She loves yogurt bars.

She loves gnomes.


Katie loves lemons (and eats the rind).

(This is Katie with the largest lemon ever.)

Katie is from Ohio and went to Bowling Green State University (and represents her home well).

She loves old people and used to work at a nursing home as the Activities Director. Old people used to follow her instead of Jesus (I know...kinda cultish, but it's true. And for the record, it wasn't instigated by Katie.)

She knows every word to about 5,000 songs...most of them being hip hop songs or musicals.

She would go in a dunk tank for you.


My favorite thing about Katie:
She is a loyal friend. She just gives and gives and gives, so selflessly. I am privileged to be one of her friends, and to call her a friend of mine. She is part of my family here (and even spent part of last Thanksgiving with me). I love my friend Katie and I hope you love her too.

Dad

“Family faces are magic mirrors looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future.”
-Gail Lumet Buckley

A little over a week ago, we celebrated my dad's 60th bday. We threw him a surprise party that many of those who love my dad came to. And although he wasn't completely surprised, he felt loved, which was the main point.
I had put together a book for my dad of photos and letters from his loved ones which celebrated his 60 years of life. Many of the pictures are in the slideshow below.


It was such a blessing for me to learn about my dad from receiving many different memories to put into this book. He is a man of integrity. The values that he holds to today are values that he held to when he was even a teenager, and they've gotten even better.
I'm so thankful to have a dad who listens, who loves and affirms me, and who values family. He is amazing.

Mexico

(click on the picture to see a bigger version)

Will blog more later (I promise) but I wanted to post this picture of Ensenada, Mexico. Thank you to Kris for making it into a panorama! For those who went on the high school trip last year, do you miss it?

Check this out...

My sister blogged about Flagstaff, and posted one of my brother's videos...you have to check it out. This is the type of fun high schoolers have in Flagstaff. So funny. My brother actually mixed the beat on garage band too (and taught himself how to do it).
Kristin's blog: http://kristingal.blogspot.com/2009/09/flagstaff.html

The fun that I had in Flagstaff growing up usually consisted of pranks on cars and high speed car chases. And taking pictures...hence my love for photography.

Tina and Funa

All the way from Malawi, these girls have made an imprint on my heart. They are full of love and have hearts of gold. They care deeply for the people around them and are amazingly humble and are examples to those around them.


Katie, Christal, Tina, Funa and I went to San Francisco at the beginning of this month. It was a surprise as to where we were taking them. But once we drove past a sign that read "Golden Gate Bridge" Tina screams "The Golden Gate Bridge!!!" at the top of her lungs out of excitement to finally have seen it. She thought she wasn't going to get a chance to see it before they left to go home to Malawi.


They loved watching Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series. Tina's favorite character was Smiegel, and when she finally got a spoon ring from Katie (that she had really wanted), she ran around the forest exclaiming, "My precious! I got it!"


This whole summer, Funa would be so innocent in any jokes that were played on her fellow roommates, so everything that looked somewhat suspicious or any joke that was played on another person, whoever did it would sign a note saying "Love, Funa".

I personally love these girls so much because of the genuine and free spirits they have as they shared so much of themselves with us this past summer. I miss my new friends, Funa and Tina.