intended4more

ahh! I should have posted a few of these by now...

2012-01-14T15:14:00.003-06:00

a few months back I posted about going and auditioning for the diary of anne frank at the tyler civic theatre. well, my sister got the role of anne the next day, and I now realize that I never bragged about her on here. so here I go... MY SISTER IS STARRING AS ANNE IN THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK!!!! SHE'S SO GREAT!!! here is the psa for the show:

and to think she was about to not audition! makes you wonder how many things we can miss out on in life just because we don't go for it... I am so proud of you tori, and I am happy that you came with me to auditions that night. they couldn't have picked a better girl for the job!

another thing that I should have posted about was that I had a wonderful get away with my mom for new years. we went to florida where we visited my grandma and her new beautiful home, the beach, aunts, cousins, second cousins, a best friend, and a few things in between. while I was there my cousin's boyfriend gave me my first tattoo. I have been wanting a tattoo for over 7 years, and am so happy to have finally gotten one, and am even more happy about the result. if you want to see more pictures, I have an album up on my facebook.

it is norwegian for the word love, and is the word most often used to describe the love of God.
1 corinthians 13:7-(the first sentence of)8 kjærligheten utholder alt, tror alt, håper alt, tåler alt. kjærligheten faller aldri bort.
love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.

1 john 4:8 God is love.

lastly, a few friends of mine from Norway surprised me with this little video and song "We Have The Best Chocolate, That You'll Ever Find, In the Whole Wide World. Yes!" yesterday. I have such funny and creative friends. I can't watch this without laughing.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?v=10150478085026721

as of late

2011-11-30T13:00:00.000-06:00

salutations dear ones,
it has been quite the long while since summer, and I realize that I never wrote a blog about the things that I did throughout. I apologize for that. so, I am making up for it by writing it out now. here we go...

this summer, a lot of things happened. so many things, that in fact, I am going to forget to mention some of them. if you were a part of any of the unmentioned activities, please do not be offended. there's just not enough space to blog.

in the beginning (after God created the heavens and the earth), and all throughout my summer, I worked with arts with a mission (AWAM)'s summer performing arts camps (that I have been a part of, or working with, since I was quite a bit younger than I am now).

the first camp took place in tyler, texas. I lead the "D group" which is the highschool group. I was in charge of working with this group everyday, and was the point person for all things D group. last year was my first year leading this group in tyler. it is a lot of fun, and a lot of work, work that is well worth it.

tyler campers performing at splash kingdom water park

tyler campers praying for a man we met on our outreach to dallas

the second camp took place in dallas, texas. I was also in charge on the D group in dallas. the dallas camp is geared more towards reaching inner city youth, and calling them out to the more that God has intended for their lives. the week in dallas is a spiritual battle. contending for the lives of the youth who come each day.

taylor and I... she was my right hand girl for the tyler and dallas camps

the third took place in chicago, illinois. chicago is my favorite city in the united states, each summer that we run our camp in chicago feels like coming home to me. I was also the D group coordinator in chicago, as well as a small group leader.

my small-group (the group we meet with daily,
to talk about how Jesus is rocking our worlds)
we always meet in the elevator. it's our thing every year

and the fourth, in goshen, indiana (this was the first year that we (AWAM) ran a camp in goshen. it was horse and buggy central. it was so cool).

I have mentioned the camps before, and that's because I love them. I believe in the works that God has done in and through the lives of the participants in each camp, each year. if you want to know more about the camps you can "click here" and you will be taken directly to the camp portion of the AWAM website (which I designed, by the way. it's my first full website to design.) (one of the products of my spring)

along with the 4 awam camps that I worked with, I also ran a "star" musical theatre camp at the tyler civic theatre, here in tyler, obviously. and I directed the chiluns in a mini-production of the play "antshillvania"

my little "infANT" trying out her costume

this summer we had a group of youth that have participated in our camps, as well as other various awam activities, through the years join us for our summer "artreach"

this is the goshen group of volunteers

(you can also read a bit about artreaches on the awam website). artreaches are how I (and many of my friends, who are also now in full-time missions) first really got involved in missions during our summers. the goal of arts with a mission is "to raise up an army of artistic ambassadors" and that is exactly what they have done, and continue to do. I consider myself very privileged to get to be a part of awam as staff.

in between the four camps, some of these youth, as well as a group from my home church "new covenant church" (from here in tyler) joined awam and headed to joplin, missouri, where massive tornadoes tore apart a huge portion of the city, to do relief work.

our joplin group outside of "hope" highschool

the other letters of "joplin" were ripped off by the storm

but hope remains

armed with change collected by participants of our tyler camp (as well as others from around the world who heard about, and were moved to participate) as part of AWAM's "you CAN bring CHANGE" project.

where you take and ordinary can and go and collect as much spare change as possible, and then use that change to bring a positive change to this world.

during our time in joplin, we did de-construction of homes with Americorps:

mi familia sorting through the rubble of a home

art therapy with a variety of classes at a local elementary school with Art Feeds:

Jenica, with students from stapleton elementary

and more art therapy with multiple YMCA locations throughout the city:

I was amazed by the stories of the people I encountered; by the hope that was so evident when you looked in their eyes, despite the utter devastation that surrounded so many of them. whether they had lost a home, a friend, or a family member, the resilience of their spirit was inspiring!

another thing I found inspiring during my time in joplin, was getting to reconnect with some heart-friends from my dts, the paxtons.

these guys are something else, and I was quite blessed to get to spend time with them. let me tell ya. click here for the link to their website (and buy one of their albums while you're there. quality music, from some quality people)

well, that is a bit of some bits of my summer...

here is my shout-out to my friends that moved away from tyler at the end of this summer. I love you dearly, and anxiously await the time that our paths do come together again.
first, we have regina; she moved back to California at the very end of july

and more recently to leave my sight, we have julianne; she just moved to germany to do a dts at the beginning of september. you can check out her blog by clicking here

lastly, we have my momma. she is only gone for 2 weeks, but she is gone all the same. she is in norway teaching at 2 different training schools. one of which is where I did my dts. please be praying for her as she shares on God's original and redemptive purpose of the arts. and that jet lag will not steal all her sleep away from her. (yesterday was her birthday)

ha det, and thanks for reading

momma

2011-11-29T13:56:00.001-06:00

today is my beautiful and fantastic mother's birthday. she is in norway, and I just wanted to post saying

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUMSY!!!!!

I love you so much that I used capitals, and multiple exclamation points (if you know me, you know that that means something special).

you are the best mom in the world. I love you to the moon and back.

are you ready for some football

2011-11-24T15:12:00.001-06:00

At the cowboys thanksgiving day game, my first ever pro football game. Thank you uncle Al!

how it all PLAYed out. hah

2011-11-23T17:38:00.001-06:00

dear friends, family, and strangers from around the globe that have just happened to stumble upon my blog, welcome and thank you for reading.
well, last weekend's performances of "it's a wonderful life" and "peter pan" went swimmingly, and altogether "wonderful". pun pun pun. gosh, I'm full of 'em today...

but for really, all the shows were great, and we had a full house for each one. so proud.

on monday and tuesday the civic theatre (where the peter pan play I co-directed took place) held auditions for "the diary of anne frank"

(my very favorite play in the world) and seeing how it's my favorite I couldn't help but go and audition. and glory be, this wonderful play just happens to have rolls within the age range of my brother, sister, and father (who I talked into coming and auditioning as well) how often does a family get to audition together? it was a neat experience, getting to watch and cheer on my family as they read for the parts, and seeing the annex begin to glimmer to life as each one stepped back in time, back into the lives of such inspiring people. I cannot wait to see this production!

it's a wonderful life

2011-11-13T14:48:00.001-06:00

this fall I have had the privilege of assisting my mum with (and being wardrobe wizard for) a theatre class she teaches at a local private school (kings academy). this friday and saturday they are performing the play they've been working on this semester: "It's a wonderful life"

here is the p.s.a. for the production:

you should come and check it out! it will surely get you in the proper holiday spirit.

also this saturday, the musical theatre class I co-direct with my mom will be performing our musical rendition of "peter pan"!

this is sure to be a jam-packed and exciting week of shows and many dance classes. I'll keep you posted on how everything turns out.

ha det bra (goodbye in norwegian (directly translated: have it good))

there's a first time for everything

2011-10-07T20:01:00.001-05:00

At my first football game. Ever. Took me 20 years, some east texan i am...

from my phone. say what?

2011-10-06T14:55:00.001-05:00

I can post to my blog with my phone! what will they come up with next?

hey:

2011-09-10T03:49:00.001-05:00

http://www.artswithamission.org

hola amigos! so, today when I logged on to my account, they told me that my blog had been deleted. I am glad to see that the internet was wrong. yay! it's still here.
sigh of relief.

today marks the day of my last final for this school year. it was in united states history, and I am very glad that it is over.
another sigh of relief.

on another happy note, i didn't even have to take my english composition final, due to the fact that my grade in the class was already an a. as my teacher put it "An A is an A is an A. You can take the final if you want, but you do not need to." (I took it anyway, just for kicks and giggles)
yet another sigh of relief.

this is just my happy blog, because I can't fall asleep. hope you enjoyed it.
that's all...

oh! except for this amazing slam poetry video that my mom showed me today. enjoy this too!

peace

it has been much too long

2011-01-18T23:39:00.002-06:00

dear friends and family,
i apologize for the great length of time that it has taken me to get here. (and by here I mean back to blogging) life has been wonderfully busy, and i have let my life updates to the interweb get away from me. it's not something that i am happy about, so i am doing something about it.
alrighty, what have we missed... quite a lot now that I am starting to think about it... I will start at the last place I left you, and fill you in with little excerpts of a few things. if a certain "thing" catches your attention, and you wish to hear more about it, please, don't hesitate to shoot me a comment, email, or facebook message about said "thing"

*inhale* let us begin...
so, since my last blog, summer drew to a close with the 3rd and final performing arts summer camp, which happened in tyler, texas. (the city in which i currently reside, by the way) it was an amazing and Jesus-lovin-filled camp. hallelu-yer. followed up by a momma-daughter get away with haysoos, to the beautiful redding california.

and as i hinted to in the previous paragraph i made the decision to stay in tyler to work with Arts With A Mission. i have been so completely blessed being on staff with AWAM, God has, and continues to open, so many doors that it has become a huge adventure exploring each open passage.

open doors such as...
being the costume designer and assistant stage manager of the production of "it's a wonderful life" put on by "k.a.c. school" and directed by the fabulous, and ever-so-talented marlene dickson (a.k.a. coolest momma on the globe)

teaching dance at the studio on main

partnering with the local ymca and teaching dance there as well

and most recently with the tyler civic theatre, working with a musical theatre class!

I have been very blessed by so many things this past year, and look forward in excitement for what God is going to do in this upcoming year.

for those of you that I had talked to about my plans of revisiting india at the end of this month with my family... I just wanted to let you know that it is not looking like it is going to happen, due to lack of funds for the journey. (despite my usual distaste for using faces in my writing, I think this one deserves a =( p.s. I have no problem with other people using smileys, it's just a personal thing for myself. in some cases i actually find them rather endearing. in case you were feeling self conscious or something) But thank you for your prayers, and excitement you shared with me, it is always so encouraging to know that I have the support of love behind me.

also, this past week i sent in my "sketchbook project" sketchbook. if you haven't heard about the sketchbook project, or the art house co-op in general, i encourage you to change that. i have the link to their website down one post. if you're interested in seeing some of my drawings, i am planning on making an album on my facebook later this week. check it out - check it out!

shalom

word

2010-09-30T23:21:00.002-05:00

click on this image to go to the art house co-op's website.
whether you are an artist, or just a hobby doodler I really suggest you check this out. it's quite neat. there are deadlines however, so you better hop on the train soon!

a blog for june, july and a little bit of august

2010-07-21T13:17:00.004-05:00

well hello all you people,

I pray all is good and dandy in your lives.
so over the past (almost) two months a lot has gone down in my life. such as:

returning back to texas (to my family!) from norway (this picture was taken in norway, not texas! if you were to wear a coat of any of these thicknesses currently in texas, it would be because you want to die. particularly from heatstroke...)

moving into the new house my family bought while I was in norway! come and visit, for real time.

and going on outreach with arts with a mission (awam) to run performing arts summer camps for inner-city youth in the cities of chicago (june 28th- july2nd)

and dallas (july 6th-11th)

on the way to chicago I got to stop in effingham illinois see my friend aminta from my dts

and while in chicago I got to spend my grandpas birthday with him and a great deal of my family stemming from himalso while in chicago I reached the milestone of my 19th year on the 30th of june

the camps in both cities were amazing, and God was so faithful to come and reveal himself in new and beautiful ways. I have been working with both of these camps every summer since 2004, and it is always so inspiring when you can see God working in and through the campers, and to see their growth not just in that week of camp, but also from year to year as returning campers.
now as summer draws to a close, my plans are to be preparing for and working with the final arts with a mission performing arts camp of this summer, that will be running here in tyler the first week of august.

please be praying that God will breakthrough in the lives of each and every participant, and that every expectation will be exceeded by his awesomeness.

thank you for your friendship and support as I follow the call Jesus has for my life.

india til now. the last many months

2010-05-25T14:44:00.005-05:00

howdy partners.
I’m trying to get back into my texan habbit seeing how I’ll be joining texas society again in A WEEK! from this moment. and although in reality I would never use the words howdy or partner in a serious manner of greeting, I am over-preparing myself for the return culture shock.
here's a picture of me on the 17th of may (norwegian independence day) proving just how much I miss texas... (looks like I'm riding an invisible horse)
as most of you know, I spent the months of both march and april in India.

(which is the reason why I didn't post anything those months... sorry for not doing this sooner) and due to the safety of the people I worked with during my time in india I don’t feel comfortable writing about everything I did during my time there.
but I do want to say that the Lord is stirring something up in the heart of india and it's people. it was such a blessing and privilege to be part of bringing His kingdom to this earth. I want to thank all of you who joined with me in prayer and really were a part of what God was able to do through me in india.

so to the now… I am back in norway, and have been since april 26th. I have been completing my lecture phase of dts, and will be graduating on the 31st of this very month of may! woo hoo! the time here in norway has been one of new journeys and discoveries with my Jesus.

the most recent thought I've been thinking on is "unity in diversity"
you see my school here is built up by a very diverse and multi-talented group of people from 12 different contries around this world on which we live. but despite the diversity to be found among us there is a unity that is rare and really wonderful and this has got me thinking, "ok then, what is it that makes us unified? what is it that helps us bind together, to run together, to push together closer to the heart of Jesus?" and what I've found is that this unity comes from an ACCEPTANCE of our diversity. we accept who we are, and encourage others in who they are. in this way we never conform to anything, but instead push ourselves to grow in an upwards motion. towards the light that gives us life.

so I want to start a movement. a movement of acceptance. not tolerace, but true blue acceptance. acceptance from a place of selfless love. and in order to accept others, we first have to accept ourselves.

PEACE IS MORE THAN JUST THE ABSENCE OF WAR.
ACCEPTANCE IS THE KEY TO FINDING THE UNITY IN OUR DIVERSITY.
Acceptance of self
Acceptance of others
Acceptance of life
Acceptance of love

so get out there and stop judging, start loving. be the change this world needs and stop thinking that obama's teleprompters are gonna do it, cause their really just machines ;)

food for thought

2010-02-23T04:36:00.009-06:00

hey pals, time for an update? why yes, I believe that it is...
so here we go. first, let me start with the lyrics of a recurring song in my life. brought up again last week by teacher peter helms for you to ponder. this lovely song is brought to you by the beautiful and remarkable beatles in June of 1967.

there's nothing you can do that can't be done.
nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game
it's easy.
there's nothing you can make that can't be made.
no one you can save that can't be saved.
nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you
in time - it's easy.

all you need is love, all you need is love,
all you need is love, love, love is all you need.
love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.
all you need is love, all you need is love,
all you need is love, love, love is all you need.

there's nothing you can know that isn't known.
nothing you can see that isn't shown.
nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.
it's easy.

wow. as high as lennon probably was when he wrote that song there is so much truth that we can learn from it...
1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:16
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.
eat up that thought food...

now on to what's happening over here in norway. well, last friday I had my first ever art exhibit.

you can see more pictures on my facebook: in my photo section.

that night was also my friend meredith's birthday

so we went to sing karaoke to celebrate. when we arrived there were 2 18 year olds sitting at the table nearest the entrance. seeing we were a large group of internationals they got curious and asked where we were from, and what we were doing in norway... what an opportunity eh? so we told them. this stemmed into a long conversation on the nature and character and reality of God. ha, so here we are, a group of international students speaking truth and life to two hammered norwegian teens. and despite the fact that they were both very drunk we were able to have an amazing conversation with both of them. later on in the evening we ran into them again in a kebab restaurant where we continued our conversations, and even got to pray for one of their vision. he has had problems from birth with his eye sight, and was so excited to have us pray for him. God is so cool. we ended up spending our entire evening with them singing karaoke and dancing and talking about jesus. even though neither of them were christians it didn't stop them from being totally open to what he had to say and share with them. please pray for these two boys, god is really working and doing something in both of their lives.

and now some very exciting news! 5 days from now (the 28th) I will be beginning my journey to india! I will be with my team there for 2 months! traveling through 7 different cities. I am so excited about everything that is going to happen during the time I get to spend there! I have a newsletter that I would be happy to send you. you can email me by clicking the link in my profile. (you get to my profile by clicking the link under my picture at the top of the page)
here is a picture of the team I will be traveling with to india:

comments are much appreciated. takk (thank you) for reading!

eh-hem

2010-01-26T07:39:00.005-06:00

why, hello friendlies. I hope to find you all well and jolly. this week I write to you from a bus station in molde (pronounced mold-eh), norway.
To start off today’s entry I thought I’d give you this collection of words that I wrote a few years ago, that my mother stumbled upon and sent to me yesterday.

arise awaken
come out of the sheet you have been hiding under
the thunder outside is a sign of the rain he is pouring out upon us
don’t be afraid
the rain is to fill you
it shall not harm you
do, do come out from the walls you have built around yourself
they, those walls, they are what harm you, not the rain
stop listening to the voices telling you - no
or that you can never make it
because you can
the Lord loves you
even though you, and I, have screwed up and are viewed beyond love
he still loves you
this is not SMALL
this is HUGE
the king, the Lord of the universe, loves you
he wants you to come away with him
he wants you to marry him
be confident. walk with your eyes up!
you are royalty
you are his princess with a palace all your own
decked out and wonderful!
built specially for you
so come out from under your sheets!

This next week here at dts is going to be a mini outreach with my visual art track. We will be heading to a town called elnesvågen for the week. we will be working in 2 public junior high schools teaching art classes, as well as attending and working with other classes and having cultural exchanges with them. We will also be working with a local youth club, teaching workshops and being jesus to youth who may not be able to experience him very often. As well as a youth group, encouraging them, and bringing more of the fire of jesus to inspire them to burn harder and further for Christ.

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to, with the team I will be going to India with, go to a local high school here in Ålesund. to meet and get to know high schoolers in the area. And, like I mentioned earlier, be jesus to those who don’t get to experience who he really is on a regular basis. We had a wonderful response and each of us got into really great conversations with all sorts of people, in all sorts of social groups. On the Thursday of the week we held a movie night at the base to hang out with them in a social setting apart from their school, so that we could create more lasting relationships with them.

Over 12 people came to the movie night.

And then on Saturday my whole school went to the local mall and the music track played songs, dancers danced, painters painted.
and for the kids?

face painting and balloon animal making. I myself made balloons out the wazoo. But thing is, animal balloon making is’nt complete without being dressed like a pirate, so…

(of course, I had to jump on this opportunity)

yep, well, I'm done.

december

2009-12-07T15:56:00.005-06:00

dearly beloved
I hope to find you are all in a wonderful state of being.
I am excited to announce that my family is here with me in norway!

what a lovely and exciting gift! my parents will be teaching in my dts for this next week, then all of us (my parents myself and my brother and sister) will be staying here for a nice snowy christmas in norway!
by the way, the first snowy downfall came last weekend.

it was so powdery and wonderful. I feel like it made the fact that I’m living in norway a little more real, even though I have been living here for 3 months.

I have some nice things to share with you about last weeks teaching. as well as my favorite mind blowing revelation slash reminder that I got. here it is:
all of Gods characteristics are merely loving applications of his nature. for example his wisdom is a loving application of his all knowingness. (that’s cool and nutso! this blew my mind a little as I began to grasp this a bit more as heart understanding rater than just brain knowledge)
so basically, all his characteristics can go under the category of love. because who is God? God is love.
wow
God is love. and love, my friends, is a powerful thing.
peace is stemmed in love.
freedom is found in the peace in love.
strength is grown in love.
truth is spoken from love.
all good things really are rooted in love.
love is experienced through relationship. we have a relational God. a father who loves us. who CREATED us to be in relationship with him. how crazy. he cares that much!
God is the epitome of love. his love is the greatest that we could ever strive for. and the beautiful thing is that we don’t have to (strive). he gives it freely to us, unrelented and unconditionally, forever. wow. how truly blessed we really are…
*inhales deep, and sighs contentedly, then smiles*

P.S. want to know something else that is super and extremely exciting?
I am going to india in the spring!

wow. this is long.

2009-09-23T15:14:00.009-05:00

friends!
norway is amazing. it is beautiful. it is cold. and it is lovely.
I am writing an update, and I am so sorry that it has taken me a week and 1/2 to do so. my dts started the 15th of september and has been a wonderful whirlwind of Jesus ever since.
hmm. so much has happened. I am excited to share it. I figure I'll start at the beginning, seeing how that's where I began, and try to sort my way through to this very moment of now. wow, a lot has happened.
ok, deep breath, here we go.

on the 13th I left my family at the dallas airport, it was such a strange thing. to hug my family and know that I wouldn't be seeing them for a series of months. some are used to this sensation, and I myself am somewhat familiar with the feeling of separating with loved ones for long periods of time at a time. but this is my family, the ones I love most on this earth, and it was strange.
my first stop, with my lovely traveling companion lyxee green, was amsterdam.

the flight to amsterdam was only 9 hours long. I've endured worse, and I had my own personal video-viewing screen. a definite plus when traveling long distances in flight. but anyway. we stopped in amsterdam, and met up with a friend of lyxees mumsy named sanne (sorry if I totally botched the spelling!) it was incredible. I have never seen so many vintage bikes in my entire life. I was in awe, I was in europe. we got to go to a coffee place (note. not a coffee shop) and on a ferry tour of the city (totally sick) and my personal favorite, which takes on a much more serious tone. the anne frank house. wow, inspired. if you ever, ever have the opportunity to experience this, please, don't pass it up. I could hardly speak at some points. my heart was just so... yah, just wow.
we were in amsterdam for 9 hours before hopping on a plane to oslo norway. a 3-ish hour flight, I don't remember. I was sleeping. the oslo airport is not something I wish to tell you about. I was disappointed, and have had much better encounters in years past. it was strange, and expensive (over $200 for over weight bags), and before I get worked up, yay I was in norway. in any case we (me and lyxee) met up with our friend hannah (who will also be attending our dts) in the oslo airport, and we all flew together to alesund.
I arrived in alesund norway on the 14th of september. it was chilly, but not all-too-cold, bearable. I arrived with my traveling buddies lyxee and hannah linked arm-in-arm. it was about, oh, maybe 8.30 here (norway) time and 1.30 in my texas head time. I was thoroughly confused and rather tired. but I fought back sleep with anticipation as we rode across the norwegian waters upon "flybussen" (the airport bus) which was upon norwegian ferry. we then journeyed through forest and back-roads until arriving at the moa bus stop where we were met with friendly faces that spoke english and knew our names (gabby and mitch, staff and dts co-leader) they then proceeded to pack our bags into a bus and drive us up and up to our new home the "ungdom i oppdrag" (ywam) base of alesund norway. woot!
at our new home we got shown our rooms and met fellow students from all around the world. my roommates (cailey from canada and josefin from sweden) had would not arrive until the next day, so I crashed and didn't bother with my many luggage bags.
have you ever gotten somewhere, and it just feels right. that's how I feel here. it's like it is already home to me. my heart is at peace, and that's a total God thing.
the next day was our first meeting as a school. in that first time of worship God already started to speak. confirmation after confirmation never gets old. you know?
we had some orientation meetings those first 2 days. the 17th however was something rather different. the whole dts packed up big hiking backpacks and headed to a secluded mountain. we were split into groups of 5 with a staff member amongst us to make sure we didn't die on our way up.
my team the "polly pocket vikings" was made up of: myself (of course), arnbjorg (other dts co-leader) cailey (one of my roommates) hannah (my travel buddy) and esther (my netherlandian (pretty sure I just made that word up) friend)
we then hiked for (I don't even know how many) hours. meeting obstacles (games) that when over-come won us food for the journey. haha. and a few unplanned obstacles. such as: hannah losing her shoe to mud (she got it back), arbjorg doing a beautifully graceful slip dive into muddy bog-ness, and myself hopping right into the clutches of a (over) knee-high mud monster who sucked me in. luckily, I had the best team ever. (polly pocket vikings forever) who swooped in to my rescue and now I am not dead. (don't worry, I didn't actually almost die)

we made a song for ourselves, so we could have something uber awesome to represent ourselves at the group presentation time. it went a little something like this, ehhem:
we're vikings, what do you know, the terrors of the sea
we're vikings, wherever we go, pillaging happily
we're vikings, let there be no, animosity
'cause, who doesn’t love a viking girl, with a hiking boot, and a viking 'tude?
ohhhhh!!!! the terrors of the mount!

lalala. hope you enjoyed that. and of course there were motions to match it's superb-ity.

anyway, it rained all night, and was cold, and my socks got soaked through due to the mud monster incident. but with the help of friends I didn't experience frostbite.
but really, I have no room for complaining, because our one and only most loved south korean gahyun twisted her ankle, bad, and had to spend the night with elevated foot.
anyway, the next day we trekked back down the mountain. but on a different, easier path, due to the need of our ankle twist-ee needing to be carried down the mountain on a man made stretcher. go crafty males!
and we had soup made in a "hurricane kitchen" a lovely little gadget that you can google if you've never heard of one before.
and then near the bottom there was a beautifully clear grassy hill that of course had to be rolled down.

we were then picked up by bus and driven back to the base where newly completed showers (and the rest of the marvelous bathroom) awaited us girls. oh lassa, you're so rad!
these are the most highlighted of highlights I have currently, because this blog is growing to ginormousy.
but. I do have a few more tid bits.
on the 20th we had our first teachers come and teach (imagine that). they started of our first "creative week" which means that my dts splits into our 4 different tracks and spends time with a special focus on them.
this year the visual art track is in a new location that is actually inside of alesund in a prayer house where revival broke out in the 30s or so and has laid somewhat dormant sense. I am so excited to bring back Jesus to the middle of alesund, and we believe that through this step into a new place God is going to be able to get his spirit pumping back through this city.
I'm excited, and very inspired.
be praying that God will use us being there to do great and wonderful things.

also, and I swear this is the last thing.
next week we are heading to a conference in oslo called nations to nations. it is being held in one of the most culturally diverse parts of norway. and all of the dtss being held in norway (and some other surrounding nations) will be meeting and inviting churches and people to unite together and seek Gods face. what an exciting outreach opportunity! please be praying over this next week that Jesus shows up in a mighty way.

**praise report my sister victoria was struck last week with a1 influenza, and was super sick. a1 has the ability to lead into swine flue. but Jesus is oh so faithful, and from a report I got from my mom today she is not contagious anymore and doesn't have to wear a mask. yay! I love you tori!

peace friends. thanks for your lovessss.

what's in the mail?

2009-09-01T00:17:00.011-05:00

wonderful friends, as some of you know, I have been waiting and in need of my norweigan work permit (what I shall refer to as my visa). visas, as is quite commenly known, are kind of a big deal when trying to enter a foreign land, and I still had not received any word about mine, accepted or denied, from the norwegian conculate. and I did plan on writing this blog today to ask you to join with me in prayer for my visa to come in, BUUUUUUUUT… recently God has decided to surprise me, blow me away, and bless the socks right off my very feet. His provision is not only enough, but overflowing upon me.
"how?" you ask?
today, upon receiving a suspicious envelope in the mail, with just one single page of a paper inside of it. I HAVE MY VISA!

I am approved! and I am good to go!

also, I have a fabulous rain coat (also received in today’s mail)

much like the one worn by debbie reynolds

my goodness, she's beautiful... gawk...
in singing in the rain.

(an all time favorite of mine)

la la la. I keep doing little jigs here and there, and have the urge to skip. if any feel like joining, come on over, we’ll have a skipping party
all this to say prayer is powerful. God is a provider. and his timing is PERRRRFECT!
love love love.
oh, I am quite overjoyed!

p.s. I figured out what the problem was, and have enabled comments. so have at it!

a much needed update

2009-08-21T21:28:00.008-05:00

hello everybody, I pray I find you good and well.
to view these newsletter pages in a way that you can actually read them simply click the "toggle" in the top right corner to enlarge the file. then click the zoom until it's at a comfortable reading size of your choice. (and there are 2 pages)
God bless!
-Rachael
p.s. the "related documents" found in the bottom left corner are of no affiliation with myself or my blog. but are instead something that "scribd" thought might go along dandily with my newsletter. so you can ignore those all-together.

Newsletter 1

Newsletter 2

This Week The Trend...

2009-05-11T13:24:00.000-05:00

a sample senior picture^

Ahh dear ones, how goes it? I’m well, currently 5 days away from my graduation ceremony. (the 16th for those of you not super keen with the mathematical skills) and as you can see I was able to reharness my html coding skills. word. I'm a little proud of myself to be perfectly honest with you...

now I understand I have some splanin to do in the area of my graduation ceremony; because some of you are confused and asking “didn’t you already graduate from high school?” and the answer to this question is “yes, why yes I did.” then there are those of you asking “didn’t you already graduate with a certificate from belhaven?” and my answer to this question is “yes, why yes I did.” (I attended belhaven college (Jackson, Mississippi) last year and received a certificate of dance there) so now you are probably wondering “why are you having a high school graduation ceremony this year then?” and my answer to this question is “when I graduated in 07 it was at the end of June due to the fact that I was graduating early.” so at that point it was too late to have a normal high school graduation. not to mention the fact that I was days away from leaving for a summer outreach tour. And that a week after I got home from that I would be moving to a new state… untimely in the ways of graduation ceremonies really… then last year in 08 I was in Mississippi, so I couldn’t really plan a graduation ceremony in my home state of Texas from there. so now that I have moved back to Texas, and completed an internship with arts with a mission I am graduating (again) in the year I was initially intended to do so. long-story enough for ya? I sure hope so, because currently that’s all I got.

hmm also this week I am working with the SOE’s, here we go with those acronyms again, (school of evangelism) ministry prep week. I have the privilege and honor of teaching 7 of the lovely students a hipity hopity dance. Holler.

well friends I’m gonna go ahead and leave you to figure out Norwegian work visa things.
have splendid and lovely days
peace

First Blog

2009-04-30T15:04:00.000-05:00

so friends, let's see how this all works. I haven't had a blog/write something to keep people interested personal site since the days of xanga. hmmm, I'm afraid I have lost my touch. (meaning) I don't remember what to do in order to make this look halfway decent in the way of personalization... That's the down-side of facebook I suppose. you can't make it too personal, so you forget that you ever had to go through the work to make things nice-looking. well anyway, enough of that talk. I have created this blog in attempts to keep in touch and communicate to those of you I love while I am gone. now, I know I don't leave for a few more months, but I figure getting a head start would not be the worst of ideas. I hope to keep this current with my thoughts of the future and where I am headed and what I'm up to.

and if you have no idea what I am referring to when I say things like "while I'm gone" and things of that nature, let me hastily inform you that this September I am planning on going to Norway for nine months to attend a creative dts.

for my friends who have not heard about dts, it is a "Discipleship Training School" with the missions organization (that my family is involved with) YWAM "Youth With A Mission". and as you can see ywam is into acronyms, so if you begin to wonder what some of these words I pepper through my blogs mean, because I forget/fail to give an explanation feel free to ask and I will make sure to explain. dts is the "entry" or primary school of ywam. in dts you learn the basics of discipleship and ministry, as well as tighten your relationship with God. typically dts's are 5 months long. because the dts I plan to attend has a creative focus they extend the time to nine months so that you have the time and ability and brain power to get away with God and glean all that you can from the teachings, as well as the creative times. you know, so your head can be in the right place at all times. God.

in this creative dts there are four tracks. visual art (drawing, painting, things of that nature), dance (well, dance...), music (again, fairly self-explanitory) and media. I have been accepted onto the visual art track, and am very excited about going. for those of you who know me, you may be a bit surprised that I am not going to dance, but for those of you that really know me, you aren't that surprised. I felt as though God was leading me to begin furthering my skills in the visual art area.

ok, I will bring this blog to a close and give my poor little baby autosave a break from this tmi overload. peace and love