Spring Break '08

This was officially the best spring break in Hayley's history. It consisted of suntanning beside the pool (while reading Einstein's article on the photoelectric effect...I can't stray too far away from the nerdy side of things),
a day trip to Ventura with my boyfriend, his family and friends,



silliness that is inevitable after a good ice cream cone,


Brent and my first moment at the seashore,

Citywalk with Brent (dinner at Bubba Gumps!!), an Office marathon night with Holly and Brent, getting Holly's car towed away and retrieving it a few hours later,

enjoying some comfort food at dear In-N-Out after our nerve-racking car adventure,

Chili's and some more Office with Brent, meeting Brent at his work for lunch, shopping for dream jeans (and I believe I found some of the dreamiest jeans possible), shopping for a swimsuit, hanging out with my sister, brother-in-law and baby, Matt's good-bye bbq, a weekend trip with a bunch of friends to one of our good friend's home in Napa Valley, including a day trip to lovely San Francisco,

(ferry from Napa area to San Fran)

(I think the one on the right is the cutest)

(girls attempting model shots)

(thrilled over chocolate--you can just barely see the Ghiradelli Square sign above my head)

(our group at Pier 39 (duh))

(marietjie and me)

(adorable pic--that's all I can say)

(amanda and me)

(wyn helping out with the hiding of the easter eggs)

and that was my fantabulous spring break!

How We Met

It was December 7, 2007 that I went to Disneyland with some friends. Near the end of our time at the park, my friends and I were in line at Space Mountain. There was this cute guy ahead of us and he started flirting with me. After the ride he asked for my number, we went out the next week and the rest is history!!!!



TOTALLY JUST KIDDING. :)



Without further adu, The Real Story.

One of my good friends, Ashley, works at an organization that had a day at Disneyland for its employees. She had an extra ticket to Disneyland that day and asked me if I would like to join her at the park on December 7, 2007. Her boyfriend's mom works at the same organization as Ashley, so Ashley informed me that we would be spending the day with her boyfriend and his family. On Disneyland day the Tyler family picked Ashley and me up at her house early in the morning. I didn't really know what I was getting into when I entered their car that day, but I quickly came to the conclusion that it would be easy to make fast friends with this family. They have been a part of my church for many years, but it is because of the size of our church and our different paths of ministry at the church that I'd never met them before. They were all welcoming, kind and just plain fun.

During the car ride down I learned that in addition to those members of the Tyler family that I had already met, Mr., Mrs., and one of their sons, Todd (Ashley's boyfriend), there was one other member: Todd's brother, Brent, would also be meeting us at Disneyland midway through the day with a good friend of their family.

I remember exactly where we met. It was right after Mr. Tyler, Todd, Ashley and I had gone on California Screamin'. We came out of the ride and caught up with the rest of our group where they were gathered with the recently arrived Brent and Mike. I shook hands with both the boys, noted to myself that Brent had strikingly blue eyes and a confident handshake (LOVE confident handshakes from guys), and then Ashley and I led the way to the next attraction. As we walked I thought to myself that Brent reminded me of one of those super cool techy guys that are interviewed on the behind-the-scenes footage of The Lord of the Rings, especially the guys dealing with special effects and animation.

When we sat down in the theater of California Adventure to watch the live Aladdin play, Brent and I sat next to each other and we had a get-to-know-you conversation while we were waiting for the production to start. I was intrigued when I learned from him that he was, in fact, one of those super cool techy guys, he's a 3-D animator! I liked the way he talked and we had an easy time with the conversation.

During the rest of the day my attention was gradually becoming more and more focused on him. I really enjoyed watching him interact with his family, it was apparent that they had great relationships with each other, they reminded me a lot of my own family in many ways. Brent and I walked and talked together a LOT that day, and much more than once he made me laugh, I really liked his humor. At one point we got on the topic of favorite Fantasyland rides, and I told him that by far my favorite ride in that land was Peter Pan, but that I hadn't been on it in ages because the line was always so stinkin' long every time I approached it. So I thought the following story was very sweet, though I'm not SURE it really meant anything at the time.

It was late into our evening at Disneyland, and our group was beginning to get tired and running out of ideas of what to do next. At one point the general sentence being uttered from everyones' mouths was "Where should we go now?" Brent took that opportunity to say matter-of-factly, "Fantasyland." When our mob arrived in Fanasyland, the next question that went forth from the sleepy mouths was "What should we do here?" (I didn't ask that question...I KNEW what I wanted to do in Fantasyland, but because I WAS relatively new to the group I wasn't brave enough to suggest it myself.) I was so happy and touched (in my girly, assuming way) when Brent answered the mob's question with a confident "Peter Pan." The ride was the perfect PERFECT way to end the day.

Brent and I left each other that night with a simple "It was nice to meet you."

I went home that night with happy memories and a hope that I would see Brent again somehow soon.

I think it was less than a week later that I got a phone call from Ashley, telling me that Todd and Brent wanted to go bowling with us. It's a long story, but the bowling idea turned into hanging out at the Tyler place with pizza and a movie. A couple of weeks after that night of dinner and a movie, I got another call from Ashley telling me Todd and Brent again were interested in going bowling with us. The four of us decided to go to lunch after church one Sunday, then we went bowling. When bowling was over, Brent didn't seem to want the day to end, so he asked us, "What next?" We decided on the movies. He paid for my ticket that night, I got pretty adrenaline-y when he asked if he could do so.

A couple of days after that, Brent called me and invited me to hang out with his family during their Superbowl party. I said yes to the invitation and had a BLAST hanging out with them again. (My post entitled "Happyness" was written right after that day.)

FINALLY, a day or two after the Superbowl, Brent called me and officially asked me out. It warranted much squealing from me after I hung up the phone.

Going out with him one-on-one for the first time was so awesome. We really got to have some good, deep conversations, and it was encouraging to me that our conversations revealed that we shared a common bond: a love for the Savior who has bought us from sin and its results with His own blood. In addition to our more serious conversations we had plenty of light-hearted ones also, and we laughed a LOT together.

From there you pretty much know the story, of course there were more dates in between the first and the trip to Disneyland written about below, but I think you get the gist.

And now we're hopelessly and helplessly in...like.

February 22nd, 2008

The date marks the day that I spent at Disneyland with Brent Tyler and his family. It also marks the day that I both entered Disneyland with a guy I liked and exited the happy park with my new boyfriend. (No small amount of heart flutteries associated with that last sentence!)

Mine was the only ticket that needed to be bought at the park that day because Brent and his family all have annual passes. So the first happy surprise of the day came when Brent and I got in line to buy my ticket and he asked the cashier not for a ticket for the day, but for an annual pass so that I can come to Disneyland with him WAY more than once this year!! SO so grateful and excited.

The first thing we did in Disneyland was buy Disney stamps so that I could mail two letters FROM the park (I've always been intrigued by the many working mail boxes in Disneyland, so I decided to make good use of them this trip). The stamps were perfectly cute and magical, much to my liking. Happily I released the two letters into the mailbox, knowing that in only a couple of days my grandparents and Brent would receive a letter from the magic kingdom.

This particular trip to Disneyland was in celebration of Brent's dad's birthday. One of the special things we did at the park in celebration was eat at the famous Blue Bayou Restaurant. As one who has often stood in line for Pirates of the Caribbean staring wistfully at the romantic restaurant, this was much more than a yummy meal for me. And those I was in company with made the experience that much more special.


These are Brent's parents:

After studying the menu for a good ten minutes, trying to convince ourselves that it is possible for the prime rib to NOT be the perfect choice if it is ever an option, our whole party one by one came to sanity and we ordered prime rib all around. I'm SO HAPPY it's what I ordered. Wow, my mouth is watering just remembering it.

Ok, even though this next picture is really not flattering of ANY of us, it just really demonstrates the fun that we all have together. We were waiting in line for Soarin' Over California and got slightly bored, so I had everyone huddle, put the camera down underneath us, and had everyone look down and smile (or make a crazy face, as I decided to do).

At the end of the night our group made our way to the front of the castle and positioned ourselves for prime viewing of the fantastic fireworks display. The weather did not seem to want fireworks to happen that night, but we waited and waited as message after message came over the loud speakers that the show MIGHT be canceled. Finally, a message came telling us that the display must be canceled, so our group found a quiet place to sit while we waited for the Disneyland mob to make their way out of the park. Brent chose that time to tell me that he had been praying and praying all day that the fireworks display wouldn't be canceled, because he had really been wanting to ask me to be his girlfriend at the end of the show. He went ahead and asked me without the prelude of the fireworks, but Brent, don't you know that for something like that you don't NEED external fireworks, there are enough going on in your heart anyway upon being asked such a question by someone you like so much? :) (By the way, there's no small significance that he asked me to be his girlfriend AT Disneyland. It is, afterall, where we met on December 7, 2007.)

On our way out of the park, holding hands very tightly, Brent and I stopped inside the Main Street coffee shop where he bought me a mug that he had seen me ooh-ing and aw-ing over earlier. It's the bestest mug ever and I've drunk out of it practically at LEAST once a day since I received it from him over a week ago. I'm telling you, coffee and hot cocoa TASTE better out of such a mug. Not only does it say "Disneyland, Est. 1955" on the outside, on the inside rim it says, "To all that come to this happy place: welcome."

Definately one of the best days ever.

Happyness

I know I spelled it wrong. I just think the word looks better with a y.

There are some weekends that leave you feeling so happy that each and every memory puts a smile on your face, even when you're staring at a white board being filled with physics derivations and postulates. And there are some moments after such weekends that memories cause you to sigh, smile and giggle suddenly in class. It's at those moments that your classmates and professor believe that something in the classroom or lecture is oh so funny, and they all start giggling and looking at each other too, trying to make believe that the professor forgetting to put a vector symbol over what is known to be a vector is an oh so funny concept.

And only I am giggling at something worth the giggle. :)

The First Two Days of School: Lessons Learned

• Lesson #1: There are weeks in California when three layers with a scarf and mittens aren't enough. Corollary: I need warmer clothes.
• Lesson #2: The point of a rolling backpack is defeated in uber rainy, flood-the-side-walk-type weather.
  
• Lesson #3: I'm usually the only girl on campus without SOME type of faddish article of clothing/accessory. This semester, it's knee-high leather boots. And the skinny jeans that fit into those boots, for that matter. I'm still trying to decide if I really even WANT knee-high boots.
  

Musings from the First Day of School

Well, today was my first day back to school, the start of my sixth and third to last semester. I've been dreading this day since the first day of the holiday break. I kind of decided it would probably knock me off my feet and leave me gasping for breath until the middle part of May, but I was actually wrong. At least about the FIRST day knocking me off my feet. The first day was actually relaxing and fun. I really enjoyed seeing all my physics friendies again. We've really bonded over the semesters, having been through some tough times, long days, and impossible problems together.

I even liked greeting my professors from the semester past as they passed me in the halls. They look just as happy to have us students off their hands as we are to be out of them. You see, I've found that in the physics department, the professors welcome each end of the semester and even eagerly look forward to it, not because they don't enjoy what they do, but because each semester is a four-month long, nastily tiring collaborative effort between the professor and students to get as much knowledge and experience packed into our tiny incapable brains as possible. We ALL look forward to breaks because for us they mean a chance at some oxygen.

After two and a half years, I've finally succumbed; I've become a rolling backpacker. I've heard all the bashing, I've even bashed them myself, but this time I decided that I care a whole lot more about my long term posture and comfort than short term shame. And as of yet I'm still a polite rolling backpacker: I haven't accidentally tripped anyone yet, though I did get it caught in the door more than once today....I'm still getting the hang of it.

I had three classes to go to today, and the middle one was canceled. When I heard the news, my reaction was literally, "Ah, man! Really?" You see, the class is Greek and Roman Mythology. Upper div GE. Jackpot. It's the one and only class I'm taking that would truly break my heart if it canceled for the semester. I can think of only one other class that I've ever felt this way about, that was Dr. Clementine Oliver's Western Civilization. Why, you may ask, are you majoring in astrophysics when you feel so light and happy about history and legends? Well, I think it's the difference between a hobby and a passion. A hobby will ALWAYS put a smile on your face whenever you get the chance to play around with it because in your NORMAL schedule, the schedule you've chosen, you hardly ever find the time to fit it in. But your passion may not always make you sing and dance and skip, in fact at times it may make you sigh, simply because you're tired of working constantly at it in the schedule that you've chosen. But when someone asks you the right curious questions about the passion, the kind of questions that hit right to the heart of WHY the subject is your passion, or when the textbook takes a turn to talk about EXACTLY the things that motivated you to chose astrophysics in the first place, the singing and dancing and skipping comes back.

I was sitting in my Experimental Physics lab today as my professor did a grandiose job of summarizing some of the breakthrough physics experiments we would be studying this semester, and it made me smile to listen to him talk about the difficulties that all the most brilliant minds on earth had in conducting these experiments, the YEARS that it took to come up with the experiments and get results, and the years and further experiments it took to understand the results. It made me smile because I knew that all the while, in the midst of all the years and effort and stress, our God had ALL of the answers to ALL of those scientists' complex questions. He knows exactly why the universe obeys the laws it does and what exactly black matter is (if it's anything) and what would happen if someone like you or me were sucked into a black hole and how gravity relates to the nuclear force and IF we need something like the String Theory anyway. He knows all the answers because He spoke the laws and answers and phenomena into existence! Every semester I'm excited afresh because I know I'm going to come away probably more confused than when I started, but also more in awe because I KNOW the God who understands it perfectly.

Tea Party at 6 AM

I was really craving scones for breakfast. So on Sunday afternoon I baked cranberry scones and made devonshire cream in preparation for the next day's breakfast. The only thing was that I had a meeting the next day for my new job (see below) for which I needed to leave early in the morning, so the only option for enjoying my cranberry scones in relaxing peace was to have a tea party at 6 AM. I even prepared real British tea (a christmas gift from Vichka's family to me) and drank it from a china tea cup and saucer given to me by my friend Holly. And, I couldn't stop there so I prepared a pretty table spread complete with a pink placemat and a lit candle. I tried to get my Dad to join me in my tea party, but he wasn't available, so instead of having my tea party in lonely silence I turned up a christian music mix that Heather had prepared for me. So it turned out to be a lovely tea party, even if it was at 6 AM. I thoroughly enjoyed the scones, but I think I would have enjoyed them more if I had a better devonshire cream recipe...mine turned out tasting not much different from cream cheese. Does anyone have a good recipe?

----------------------------------------------------

I recently got hired for a new job at CSUN that will start with the beginning of the semester! My official position is a Supplemental Instruction Leader for college algebra. Supplemental Instruction is a program that was developed for students in classes with a historically low pass-rate, college algebra being one of those classes. My role will be to attend the students' lecture class with them in order to model good student behavior AND keep up with what the professor is taking them through week by week, and also I will hold additional study sessions for the students twice a week. The Supplemental Instruction sessions will not be as formal as a classroom setting but will also not be as casual as a tutoring lab. My goal will basically be to help the students learn how to help themselves by teaching them study skills, help them learn how to work with one another in mastering college algebra techniques, and occasionally I will help them specifically with homework. The meeting yesterday was a training meeting that relieved almost all of my anxieties about the new job and made me really excited to get my hands on the work. And I think I really like my supervisors and the other SI leaders I'll be working with. I'm so thankful for God's provision in this new job!

The Holidays/I'm in Love With the Golden State

Hey there!

Hope you all had a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year! I quite surely did. The holidays were pretty much the same old, same old for my family, but I'm so thankful for the blessing of the same old, same old. Who would have known that for so many years after the eldest sibling was grown and out of the house and the second eldest sibling was married and had a baby, that the entire family could still be together in bodily form for Christmas? Every year I try to soak up the memories and feelings in my heart because I know of the possibility that the blessing won't continue.

And by the way, the same old same old for the Hays family has changed quite a bit with the addition of Matt into the family AND Matt and Heather's baby girl, Georgie. These two people only added to the fun of the season. I'm so looking forward to next Christmas when Harrison gets to introduce Vika to her first Hays family Christmas! The growth of the family is such a blessing.

I plopped with a sigh onto our couch the other evening, causing one of my family's guests for the night to ask me if I was exhausted. "Yes!" I answered without a pause. Of course I was exhausted. It was the end of the holiday season, who wouldn't be exhausted? But it was such a different, much more gratefully accepted type of exhausted than that which comes with the school semester. It's such a relief to be exhausted because you have the time and privilege to set the table in extravagant Christmas-ware for the sixteenth family holiday dinner instead of the exhaustion you feel as you cram some nutrition into your mouth before finishing homework for four hours before bed. It's so special to be exhausted because of searching the home far and wide for a space, just a little space, to wrap Christmas presents in, a space where there is not already a family member hovering over his shopping bags and merrily barking at you to get away and not look inside his bags. Such fun to be exhausted because you can't sleep on Christmas Eve on account of all five siblings piled in the same room, keeping you awake with laughter. It's giddy fun to be exhausted because your dad wakes the whole family up at 6 am on Christmas morning to go open presents. And, of course, who in the entire world would miss the exhaustion associated with staying up way past your bedtime with friends and family just to ring in the new year with poppers and sparkling cider?

Yes, it's been a good holiday season.

And now I'm on a spontaneous road trip! (Ahem..I WAS on a spontaneous road trip when I started this post.)

When Matt and Heather's scheduled date of departure from LA quickly came into view, Hunter and I decided that we hadn't quite had enough of them and our niece, Georgie. I was so thankful when I remembered that my friend Andrew would be taking a roadtrip up to Washington for a wedding the same week that Matt and Heather were returning home by car. Hunter and I asked Matt and Heather for a ride up to Washington and we asked Andrew for a ride back. Both eagerly accepted.

I'm writing now from my little home-away-from-home (I WAS writing from there), the place in which I lived with Matt, Heather and the little bear cub for a month last summer. It's been two days of intense driving, but we made it and are all happy to finally stretch our legs again.

The ride up was really really fun. Probably the most special part about it was that every once in a while, when the cub was awake, I'd be looking out the window or reading a book or something and then would glance in her direction only to see her studying me with amazement and anticipation written on her face. When I would finally lock my eyes on hers and give her a smile she would smile back with utter glee as she kicked and waved her arms all around. Hunter had many similar experiences with little George. It got to the point where one of us would have to inform the other sometimes that, "Oh, Georgie wants you to smile at her." She appreciated our help because she always got the smile from us that she was seeking. Other times both me and George would be taking a nap, my elbow resting on the side of her car seat. I would wake up at the feel of her little hand placed decidedly on my elbow. I would look at her and she would just be looking at me with slightly grumpy wake up eyes. But that little hand on my elbow assured me that I was not the object of her grump. Also some of my favorite experiences of the drive were Georgie's serenades. She's got a beautiful voice.

So, I'm not exactly sure at what point in our drive Hunter and I crossed the line of "the farthest point north in California we've ever been," but we passed it before San Francisco. It was such a delight to visit and pass through the dreamy places I've always heard existed in my state. I'm telling you, I've never had much affection at all for Southern California. I appreciate my home's location because of the church, the beach, the proximity to camping-worthy mountains and the fun of Beverly Hills, but I've never quite gotten over the heat, the smog, the lack of greenery, the traffic, the busy-ness, etc. But man, when we crossed that Golden Gate Bridge on our way out of San Francisco, I felt like I had finally entered into the land where the stork SHOULD have dropped me. (And the rest of my family...couldn't survive without them.) Only about 30 minutes north of San Francisco Hunter gleefully hollered to us, "Yeah, look! Happy cows in California!!" We looked left and saw lots of cows contentedly grazing in wide open spaces of rolling green hills. The rest of the drive north we periodically saw cows and sheep living happy lives in green pasture lands, it gave me a lot of comfort for some reason. Like the poor animals that are cooped up in those cram-packed, smelly, uninteresting cow farms north of the Grapevine might hopefully take some comfort in the fact that many of their relatives are, in fact, enjoying the blissful lives of happy California cows (and sophisticated California lives at that...they're in CLOSE proximity to the rolling Napa Valley hills!) I greatly enjoyed putting down my gripping book in order to soak in the sights around me as we passed the happy cows, drove through romantic Napa Valley, and then meandered into the beautiful forest of the Redwoods. The beauty of the Redwoods increased exponentially as we approached the Humboldt area, where we were to stay with Matt's brother and sister-in-law. I'm so thankful for Spenc and Melody's hospitality that night...it was so comforting to have a real meal for dinner and a place to rest our heads for the night!

The next morning our drive quickly found us in Oregon. I loved the scenery from the highway. So so much scope for the imagination in the wide open fields, farms, great big old barns and farmhouses. And, of course, the limitless sheep.

Once we reached the city-ish part of Oregon, the metropolitan area didn't seem to end until we reached our final destination (home!), so I dived right back into my book. (About a climb of Everest. About the time that we crossed the Oregon/Washington border I had just finished acclimatizing at Base Camp.)

Man, it was so great to just chill with Matt and Heather that night. Matt cooked us some wicked good chicken and chili cheese rice, and we had homemade fresh apple cider for dessert. We also watched the video of this year's talent show. A few hours later my friends Andrew, Anton and Naomi arrived for the night (Anton and Naomi had come along just to see the sites up the coast.) We all got a restful night's sleep and then departed for home the next morning.

We took a minor detour in our route home to try to get a good look at Mt Rainier, but unfortunately the weather never allowed us to get a glimpse even though we were probably only a couple of miles away. Ugly-ish weather did not want us to get very far that day, so we didn't even end up making it to the Redding area until the following morning.

Okay, Sacramento. I'd been once before, but only as a very small girl when my family's one mission was to visit my great-grandmother where she was living. But this time me and my fellow travelers drove right through the heart of the city and saw enough of Old Town Sacramento from the freeway to whet our appetites for getting out and taking a look. First we deliberately found our way to the Governor's Mansion. Unfortunately, it was under rennovation so we didn't really get to see what it looked like (What's up with the 2000's and rennovations galore? It seems almost every major historical building I've visited in the past six years is under ugly major rennovation. Ugh.!), but I saw enough of Sacramento on that little detour to realize I wanted to come back for at least a weekend vacation. Preferably on a rainy weekend. The part we were in was just pretty and quaint and fun. And then Old Town Sacramento was a blast. Right on the water, there were old-fashioned cruise-liners that had been converted to swanky hotels. I REALLY wanted to explore the hotel rooms, but not enough time. We did visit an old-fashioned candy shop and got some yummy kettle corn.

The rest of the drive home was pretty much uneventful, though I felt like it was eventful because my book was just so enrapturing. We got home late that night, man it felt good to be out of the car for GOOD.

Thanks for all the fun, Heather, Matt, Georgie, Spencer, Melody, Andrew, Anton, and Naomi!

Christmasy Happenings

Last Friday evening was the time that Hunter and I agreed to reserve for decorating our house for Christmas. We reserved the date about a week ahead of time, and for the following seven days both of us were frequently being invited to do other fun stuff on that particular Friday night. But Christmas decorating emerged victorious as night after night we would report to each other, "So, I just turned down going to _________ so that we can still decorate on Friday...we're still decorating Friday, right?" Our answers to each other were always an emphatic YES.

A couple of days before our decorating extravaganza, I started really getting in the mood and suggested to Hunter that I make my famous hot cocoa to sip on decorating night as we enjoy looking at the fruits of our labor. (My famous hot cocoa drink is actually a recipe from the front of my hot cocoa-flavored Philosophy-brand bath, shower gel and shampoo bottle. After making this homemade hot cocoa several times for several different groups of people, I've determined that it's officially a knee-buckler. Especially for chocolate fanatics. Here's the recipe:

philosophy®: 1/2c. granulated sugar, 1/3c. hot water, 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder, 4c. milk, 1/8tsp. salt, 3/4tsp. vanilla extract. mix cocoa, sugar, water and salt in a saucepan. over medium heat, stir constantly until mixture boils. cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil. remove from heat and add vanilla. blend well. serve immediately.

Enjoy!)

I was so discouraged when Hunter, the one who first classified my hot cocoa as "wow, really good," told me, "No, I really don't think you want to make hot cocoa that night."

"WHAT?!" I exclaimed to him. "Of COURSE we're going to want hot cocoa that night. It's the perfect Christmas drink! You LOVE my hot cocoa!"

He just shook his head, squinted his eyes a bit and said, "I'm sorry, I'm just getting this vibe that says hot cocoa is NOT a good idea that night. It's just this feeling. Any other drink, cider, tea, yeah, let's do tea. Just not hot cocoa. Yes, I love it, but it's just not right for that night. You don't want the hot cocoa."

I consented with a disappointed "harumph" and said, "Ok, but only because tea sounds pretty good do I agree to have it instead of hot cocoa." And because I was feeling particularly feisty, I added, "And don't tell me what I do and don't want." That made Hunter giggle.

Friday evening came around. Before we started getting out the Christmas boxes I suggested that not only do we sip tea after decorating, but we also watch one of our favorite silly Christmas movies, Home Alone I, together too. At first he agreed but then hastily changed his mind. "I think we should save Home Alone for later. Let's watch Veggie Tales Christmas tonight." I pretty much did NOT want to watch Veggie Tales Christmas, but I didn't want there to be an argument in the air as we started decorating, so I again consented. Besides, Hunter had already tried to describe to me what a magical feeling he had inside him about this night, so I didn't want to ruin that feeling by any sort of disagreement.

Decorating went smoothly and was a complete blast. I mean, we were almost COMPLETElY exhausted only a third of the way through it, but we were determined to get it all done that night. Our biggest accomplishment and the one we're most proud of is our fireplace display. Hopefully I'll have a pic up of it soon. As we decorated we listened to our favorite Christmas tunes. Periodically throughout the evening Hunter just wouldn't be able to hold it in and would tell me, "I just have this magical feeling. It's hard to describe. It just won't go away. It's like I wouldn't be surprised at anything that happens tonight."

I said, "Like, you wouldn't be surprised if Santa Claus visited us tonight?"

He looked at me with a smile and said, "Exactly. Like I wouldn't be surprised if it was Santa who was making me feel so magical and Christmasy."

When we were done decorating we agreed to get ready for bed, then prepare our tea and a little snack to enjoy with our video. By that time I was happy that Hunter had suggested Veggie Tales Christmas, because it was about 10 pm already, neither of us really wanted to be up much longer.

After the movie I started taking apart Hunter's bedding so that I could put flannel Christmas sheets on his bed for him. When I lifted up his pillow, I found a rented Polar Express dvd hiding underneath. "Oooo!" I thought to myself, "Dad is trying to make a Christmasy surprise for Hunter! Pretty good idea, Dad!" I made sure to keep the dvd underneath the pillow when I took it off the bed so that hopefully Hunter wouldn't see it until he crawled into the warmth of his Christmas sheets that night.

Hunter entered the room as I was just starting to put the fresh set of sheets on his bed. He had a look of, "Well, geez, I just wanted to go to bed." I giggled at his expression and told him to relax, his bed would be ready soon and it would be worth the wait. He wandered around the room a bit and then sat down.

When it was time for me to make the pillow/dvd transfer, I reached one hand underneath the pillow to grasp the dvd. But my hand found NOTHING! I lifted up the pillow and sure enough, no Polar Express there. I went slightly frantic, looking all around me, under pieces of furniture, lifting up curtains and such, all the while scratching my head and worrying. Suddenly I gave up and looked at Hunter, who was resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands and obviously trying to hide uncontrollable laughter. I asked him what in the world he was laughing at, anxious that he had found the dvd before I got to it and hid it as a trick. He explained to me, through his laughter, that he didn't know what I was looking for, but man, when I started looking for it, I perked up like a peacock on a mission, straightening up much like Dwight Schrute would if he discovered a hidden plot to remove Michael from the office or something. He mimicked some of my head movements as I was looking for the lost object...I started laughing till I was crying because they DID look like a curious bird or a focused Dwight Schrute.

Finally, I explained to Hunter what I was looking for (without giving him the name of the dvd) and told him that I was trying hard to not ruin the surprise the dad had set up for him. He could provide me no help as to the location of the dvd, but agreed to get in bed, and when I told him to close his eyes, he would as I slipped the dvd under his pillow again....that is, if I ever found the dvd.

I went on searching for about three more minutes, all the while getting more and more worried that I had simply hallucinated the whole idea of the Polar Express. The idea of the hallucination sounded completely bizarre to me, but then again, there was no one in the room when I found the dvd, so maybe I had hit my head hard on something and then dreamed up the whole experience and forgotten the hitting of my head!

FINALLY, I found the dvd. But it was NOT where I had put it. I had NO recollection of putting it where I found it again, but I just shrugged off that confusion and slipped the dvd under Hunter's pillow.

Hunter was surprised at the Polar Express, but he was also kind of like, "Well, thanks dad. You tried to make a Christmasy surprise for me, missed the mark a bit but thanks anyways. "

"I thought you loved the Polar Express," I said.

"OOOH," he said as he looked at me. "It was you! This is YOUR surprise to me, isn't it! No, yeah, I...I like the Polar Express."

Suddenly MY dignity was at stake...I didn't want Hunter thinking I had surprised him with a movie he thought was cheesy, especially when I remembered thinking it was cheesy, not to mention the fact that it WASN'T my surprise to him. He had a hard time believing me that it wasn't my surprise, though, so the debate continued until both of us had hit the sack. We did, eventually, get to bed, with memories of a very Christmasy and fun evening.

--------------------------------------------------------

I woke with a jolt and a gasp. Something felt strange...had there been an earthquake? As my mind went through the process of completely waking up, I realized one of the things that felt so strange was Hunter standing over my bed and frantically begging me to wake up and get up. My heart started pounding because of the knowledge that Hunter has only ever woken me up in the middle of the night because of frightening circumstances...earthquakes, possible intruders, etc. When my brain started functioning to the capacity that I could understand what Hunter was telling me, I learned from his frantic explanation that he had been hearing lots of sounds downstairs and NEEDED to go down and see who/what was there. I was about to just lay back in bed again until he further told me that at one point during one of the noises, the bedroom door had opened a crack. From being tightly CLOSED. THAT got my heart racing. No longer was I safe staying upstairs with whatever it was that was wandering downstairs. The thing had opened the DOOR. I got so completely frustrated with Hunter that he was so insistent on GOING WITH ME to check it out. That's always been Hunter's strategy with monsters or intruders. GO DEFENSELESS AND CHECK IT OUT. As a kid, my strategy had always been to stay as low-key and quiet as possible, then maybe the monsters would never know I was present and would never bother me. But Hunter always has to give away our hiding place by making noise and making his presence known. I tried to keep my voice from shaking as I attempted a convincing, "It's probably just a cat. I'm going to sleep." Hunter PLEADED with me with an even louder voice to come with him to check it out. When I realized that he would be going downstairs whether I came with him or not, I decided that I would rather be with him when the monster attacked rather than wonder what was going on as I hid in bed.

We slowly and quietly started creeping down the stairs. After only the second step, sure enough, I heard scary squeaking/metal-rubbing-against-metal/banging noises, they sounded like they were coming from the fireplace. I was TERRIFIED. Previously in our lives, there had been plenty of times of believing there MIGHT be something scary going on in our home, but this was the first time that it seemed to be a reality. I bolted back up the stairs as quickly and stealthily as I could, wondering what exactly I would do when I got back into my room. Huddle, frightened, with Hunter? Was that all we were going to be able to do?

Eventually I heard Hunter's voice at the bottom of the stairs BEGGING me to come back down, he didn't think it was as bad as what I had assumed. I crept slowly back down the stairs again. The first thing I saw was the computer that had been turned ON...the very computer that I had made sure to turn OFF before we went to bed. That right there reminded me of The Ring, for some reason, and I really wondered why the heck Hunter wasn't more scared. Suddenly I heard some of the most magical Christmas music ever, and recognized it as from the soundtrack of The Santa Clause I, during the part where the dad and his son are first discovering Santa and his sleigh on their roof. It was then that I started to calm down...maybe just maybe all of this was set up by Hunter. I looked at the tv and got a little freaked out again when I saw that it too was on, but then calmed down even more when I saw that the dvd menu of the Polar Express was playing. Yes, this was definitely Hunter. Finally, my eyes rested on the coffee table, where there were waiting two fresh cups of hot cocoa. EVERYTHING started to make sense. Of COURSE Hunter had set all of this up! He was trying to make it seem like Santa had visited us through the fireplace and had left us a movie and hot cocoa to enjoy for the start of the Christmas season! My mind started to have all these flashbacks of memories that SHOULD have told me Hunter had something up his sleeve....that's why he didn't want us to have the hot cocoa last night!....OH, the movie, wow, he did a great job at pretending he was surprised!....so THAT'S why he didn't want to watch a full-length movie last night!

Hunter was insistent that we forget about sleep and watch the movie right then, with our fresh hot cocoa. I thought about it for a minute, then asked him, "What time is it?" He said, "Um," gulp, "it's two." I shook my head and said, "Ok. Let's do this."

So we watched the Polar Express at two in the morning. With fresh hot cocoa that Hunter himself made. Very very fun and Christmasy.

Later in the morning (at a DECENT hour), I asked Hunter what in the world were the noises that I had heard coming from the fireplace? He showed me the playlist that he had put together on Itunes. The first "song" was one that he had named "Santa Support." It was three minutes of nothing. No sounds, nothing. The second "song" was called "Santa," it was a sound recording he had made of him banging around in the fireplace...so that's where the freaky and realistic noise had come from. The third song was the one from the Santa Clause. The reason he had to have the three minutes of "Santa Support" was so that he could time my coming down the stairs at the perfect moment to hear the noises in the fireplace. Very creative, huh?

Man, I can't wait to see what Hunter has up his sleeve when the time comes for him to propose to a girl.

Wowie Maui

Did anyone get a load of that Moon last night? It's been so beautiful and shiny and big lately, but last night especially took my breath away. Some nights, like last night, it's just so much more obvious than normal that Earth is in the Universe. Sure, we feel the Sun's heat and we hear about Pluto getting kicked out of the planet club and we listen to exciting news about light waves being emitted from black holes and asteroids and supernova and binary systems and on and on and on....but then there are moments like last night when you look up to a clear sky and a Moon that's so obviously 3D, and you see the detail of the craters and valleys and seas of Moon-dust on that land. It's then that you realize that for 23 hours and 56 minutes of the past day you had been subconciously considering Southern California as all that existed in the Universe. You gaze in silent humility and awe as you reflect on how mistaken you were in your subconcious consideration. Studying the craters on the Moon's surface makes you think of the asteroids that caused them, and then you remember the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, then your mind's eye spans farther back to include our entire solar system. Almost simply for the adreneline rush you force your mind's eye to then look straight up, and your legs almost go weak as you consider the depth of the Universe and the microscopic teeniness of us. And you take comfort in knowing that the very God who holds ALL of it in the stretch of His hand (Isaiah 40:12) loves you intimately and desires for you to get to know Him and love Him as much as possible.

All of THAT is why I've been wanting to be an astronaut. But, I think I should have been born 50-100 years later, when deep-space travel is remotely possible.

Harrison, normally I wouldn't blog on a Tuesday evening. But I realized I better if I want to get you to start reading my blog again. I'm not sure of the consequences of you not reading my blog, but I assume that maybe I wouldn't want to know.

Hooray!

I'm sending out a thanks to Gill, Amanda and Casey! We got Marietjie to read the blog! Woohoo!

Grrrrr

I resort to peer pressure. Anyone who's with me go to Marietjie's site and tell her to read my previous post!

Fun With South Africans

The title really should read, "Fun with FRIENDS," but I wanted to spark Marietjie's interest and have her read one of my posts. :) Reading, Marietjie?

One of the brightest highlights of my week is Sunday evening at the Van Straatens'. After evening service at church each Sunday a group of friends from my old Bible study traipses on over to Anton and Marietjie's to chat, laugh and eat. I soak up every minute of these evenings because I know they won't go on forever...college students and seminary guys/couples must part ways eventually as God continues to direct their steps. Some nights the talk is focused, serious and refreshing, other nights the talk is simply silly but refreshing in a different way.

Last night was one of those extra silly nights. :) LOVED it.

When I arrived at the Van Straatens' last night, only Anton, Marietjie and my friend Andrew were there at that point. Anton took the opportunity to start drilling me with questions that he insisted were necessary I answer for both their theological implications and for what he would deem the level of my "pioneering spirit." He proceeded to ask me (in a tone that said why haven't you thought of THIS before, silly???) what in the WORLD I would do if Jesus returned while I was on a mission in space? When Marietjie overheard the question as she was preparing coffee in the kitchen, she let out a woop and came bounding over to Anton and me, congratulating herself on having previously thought of the same thing and scoring a point in the "Hayley Shouldn't Be an Astronaut Vs. Hayley Should Be an Astronaut" game. Marietjie went on to mimic me floating around in the space station and watching helplessly as Jesus glided past the window, having no opportunity to go and meet Him in the sky. I retorted that He would probably just pick me up on the way down to the atmosphere, wouldn't He? No, Anton said, the likelihood of being in the right part of the galaxy while on a futuristic space mission at the time of Jesus' return is slim at best. All hope would be lost for me. :(

hahaha. :)

Still reading, Marietjie?

Anton's next question: "Let's say that scientists discover a planet in another galaxy that has an atmosphere, water, greenery, everything you could need to support life. NASA wants you and one other person to go scope the place out and do some experiments on it."--at this point I'm going, "Cool, cool!"--"Ok, now, it is a three to five year journey TO the planet, and a three to five year journey back."--Now I'm giggling and saying, "Well, I'd have to think about it....but YES of course! How cool would that be?!"--As he steadily holds my gaze with a laugh in his eye, Anton strikes again: "It would probably simply be a ONE WAY journey, though."--At this point I double over laughing along with the three South Africans in my midst. As we're recovering from our laughter, one more fun-to-be-with South African, Lonngren, walks through the front door.

While I continue my conversation with Anton in the living room, Lonngren sits down to tea and cupcakes with Andrew and Marietjie at the kitchen table. The background noises of my conversation were so pleasant. I loved the sound of the three of them with their quick jibber-jabber back and forth in their native tonge, Afrikaanse, every minute or so erupting in uncontrollable laughter.

All the while, the craziness of the conversation with Anton continues. I thought I might turn the conversation toward a more serious tone by noting that the journey to Mars, which NASA is actually trying to prepare for right now, is a six to ten year round-trip journey. Expecting him to make a few remarks on that fact, I was again surprised as Anton pressed the issue of the possibility of a totally livable but empty planet on which I might have to spend the rest of my life. Hahahahaha!

Two more lovable friends arrived soon after, Molly and Amanda. The house was bustling with friendship.

I moved to the kitchen table and as I sat down, I chuckled on the inside as I noted the amount of empty cupcake wrappers that were lying (neatly folded into quarters) on the corner of the table in between the boys. Molly picked up one of the cupcakes (my sister, Heather, was very generous in letting us bake her fashion-forward Sprinkles cupcakes while she was with us and then letting me take some to Anton and Marietjie's...thanks Heather! People loved them!) and began to eat. Lonngren decided to be very helpful and pointed out to Molly that the cupcake decorations, shown here,


were in all actuality completely edible, despite the fact that they looked completely plastic. Anton also picked up a cupcake and walked behind me with it, and a few seconds later, the top of the cupcake came whistling between Marietjie and my shoulders, frisbee style, right on target on the cupcake plate. That sight made me giggle and the memory of the cupcake frisbee made me chuckle every time I thought about it today. Upon my inquisition as to why Anton would disregard the best part of the Sprinkles cupcake (the cinnamon cream cheese frosting), Anton blatantly explained, "I hate frosting." Enough said. :) Marietjie grabbed the decoration, I grabbed the top of the cupcake and we both had a nice treat.

Lonngren proceeded to point out that not only were the cupcake decorations completely edible, but they also looked like buttons that would detonate a bomb when pressed. After pressing one of the decorations, he made that classic bomb sound that I seriously believe boys and ONLY boys can make: "--" Well, never mind, I was going to try to write the sound of the noise, but I think its impossible. You all know what I'm talking about, don't you?

I told Lonngren, "Those are fashionable Sprinkles dots, thank you very much."

Molly, slightly giggling, at this point pipes up with a "You were serious when you said the dots were edible, right? Oh, whew, good, because they do really feel like plastic."

Next, Anton re-enters the house (note: I don't believe anyone knew that he had even left the house. One minute he was next to us, the next he was walking through the door.) balancing a cup of coffee on a Marie Calendars pie box. Apparently one of his neighbors had given him some extra pie. Yum. As he was deciding whether or not he was going to share the pie with his guests, he asked me if I would consider the one way ticket to the empty livable planet if I could go with John and Patricia MacArthur and Marietjie. I said yes of course, thinking it would get me some pie. It didn't. :) (Just kidding. Anton ended up offering it to everyone.)

Our group decided to move to the living room so that we could all sit down. Sadly, at this time Molly had to leave. We missed her.

The conversation was pretty scattered. Amanda began by telling us a silly story of an encounter that her family, and especially her grandma, had with the guy who played the dad in Seventh Heaven. I told the story of my mom's poor/hilarious encounter with Candice Bergen. Lonngren told the story of his encounter with the handsome and talented Mr. South Africa (Wow, South Africa has a male beauty pageant? Anyone who knows anything about it please inform me!! :).

Marietjie told us how BADLY she wants to win the pumpkin carving contest at the SCV Reformation Day party this week. She asked for outstanding ideas about what she should carve. It seems like everyone had their two cents to say on this. I know I had mine. So many people were talking over each other, but all the while I heard Andrew's voice in the background, going, "Marietjie, Marietjie, you know what you should do? You should duhduhduhduhduhduhduh......" I don't know what he said, there were so many people talking. All I know is that suddenly the conversation went silent just in time for Marietjie and me to look at Andrew as he was finishing up the last two words of his brilliant idea for carving a pumpkin. After he said his last word, he nodded his head down and raised his eyebrows confidently like, "THAT'S what you should do, and you know it. Aren't I the smart-smart here?" Marietjie and I cracked up. Loved it.

Somehow the conversation drifted to Daylight Savings Time. I think people were wondering why it didn't end yesterday, or something. Lonngren started getting confused about this whole Daylight Savings Time thing, afterall, he's only been in the states for a few months and South Africa doesn't have such a practice. Finally, he just asked the blunt question: "Ok, what IS Daylight Savings Time?" We started giggling at how far back we could go to answer that question, how detailed and how extravagant we could be in our explanations. Anton got out of his chair and picked up one of the decorative wicker balls that surrounded a glowing candle, the centerpiece of the coffeetable. He said, "Ok, Lonngren, this is the Earth." Andrew went to the coffee table and pointed to the candle, saying, "And this is the Sun. Now the Earth revolves around the Sun." Lonngren got up, took his cell phone out of his pocket, made it revolve around Anton's Earth, and said, "And this is a spaceship." Anton goes, "That's Hayley!" And of course Marietjie pipes up, "It's Halley's Comet!" So silly.

I think that's the gist of the good times. Do you see why I love these evenings?

Yay, Marietjie! Now you can comment!

Quickly...

I should be doing homework right now so I'll try to make this quick.

Ladies, I need your help.

Jeans. Are some people just simply made for them and others aren't, or does every person have the perfect fit out there that looks like it was specially made to flatter the person? I'm asking because I don't think I've ever been completely satisfied with the way any of my jeans have ever fit, and rather than still believing that dissatisfaction is a product of my perfectionistic tendencies, I have a hypothesis that for every person in the world, there is at least one pair of jeans in existence in which the person is absolutely adorable.

I've noticed that approximately 3 out of 4 people on my campus wear jeans that simply perform the basic function of clothing. It doesn't matter whether they're stretchy, baggy, sparkly, diva, bootcut, whatever, on the person wearing them they look boring and if you really look hard, even wierd. I am especially peeved when the jeans fit so wierdly that the jeans have constant outward creases up the hamstrings, do you know what I'm talking about? Unfortunately, I would be in this 3 out of 4 people group, and further, my jeans (both pairs) are among the ones I'm especially peeved about.

Then, there's the 1 out of every four people group. You watch them walk and they just look adorable. Most of them are even completely modest. The jeans look like they feel privileged to be worn by the person. I've noticed that tons of different styles of jeans strike me this way when they're on different people, so I'm pretty sure each person is made for a particular type of jean.

My question: how do you find this perfectly flattering jean?? Do you HAVE to spend big money, or do you just have to have the patience to look HARD? How do you shop when you shop for jeans? I usually go to Old Navy. I get a bunch of different styles, take them to the fitting room and try them. If I don't like certain ones, I'm never sure whether it's because I don't like the style or if its just not my size. For some reason my size varies greatly depending on the type of jean and the store that the jean is from, so I have a really hard time taking the right-sized jean to the fitting room. AND, if the jean isn't my size, then I have such a hard time deciding how many sizes up or down to try next....I usually guess incorrectly, and therefore trying on jeans takes up so much stinkin' time.

AND AND AND, this is a big one, USUALLY, in the fitting room, I find one pair of jeans that I believe fits me spectacularly, just the way I've always dreamed a pair of jeans might one day fit me. I buy them. I take them home and I wear them. And after only 2 or three wearings/washings, they're blah jeans. And I'm stuck with them until the next time its necessary to buy jeans. So frustrating, huh?

Ok, really gotta go. Would really appreciate your insight!

Banana Bread

Banana bread is what I did this weekend as a little "breather." Babysitting, John MacArthur's morning and evening services, making banana bread, enjoying banana bread and coffee with cherished old Bible study friends at the Van Straaten's home Sunday night, catching up with Marietjie, those were the highlights of my weekend. And now its off to work, off to work! Mondays through Thursdays are long days, baby, long days. But I'm usually on this exhilarating endorphin high when I get home at 8 or 9pm because I come straight home from these intense group fitness sessions, cardio kickboxing rocks! And I'm growing to love step too even though I'm not super coordinated. What else am I loving these days? White tea, that's a big one, breakfast in general (I love planning out what I'm going to have the night before, is that weird?), the book of Job, just read it straight through for the first time and can't wait to read it again more slowly. What else? Physics problem solving, sleep, my lovable furry stupid little cat, getting know new friends, Holly, planning my little brother's birthday present, getting involved in my new Bible study (looking forward to retreat this weekend!).

All of that to say, I'm still ALIVE! I'm just very sadly away from the blog. I had forgotten just how busy the school semester is, I didn't remember that I wouldn't have time to blog about the things I would have normally loved to blog about.

Yikes, that was a haphazard post. :)

Ew.

I made a serious error. I mis-spelled Chocolatine every time I wrote the word in my previous post! Thankfully, looking at all the comments on that post, it looks like none of you followed me down the same cliff.
In the very PICTURES that I have posted of the place, the correct spelling is available! How could I overlook that? And I really wonder why I care about it so much? :)

Choclatine and Adventures

My best friend, Holly, and I had many adventures together two weeks ago. Some of them were planned ahead of time, some were thrown at us without our chance to give a "Nay!" and some of them were planned on the spot. All of that is bound to happen when best friends spend 72 hours together in one week.
It all started when I met Holly at her place on our way to our first adventure. But before we left the house, she had me open her birthday present to me: the Neil Armstrong biography, First Man, and the Rachael Ray book, $40 a Day. This Holly girl knows me very well. Anyone who knows me in the slightest will know why I appreciated the first book, and as for the second book, that one proved that she knows me better than I know myself. It's no secret that I love Rachael Ray recipes, but I never gave a thought to spending a dime on her because most every recipe you could ever need is for free on her web site. But when I opened up $40 a Day I realized why it's so valuable to have one of her books. Not only does this book have delicious and for the most part easy recipes, but it's also a travel guide for your mouth! The book features cities around the world and the best restaurants in them to get great food at a great price. FUN fun fun. Holly knows I LOVE to travel and that I LOVE food, so mix the two with Rachael Ray, and wala! a perfect birthday present for Hayley!
Our first adventure together was dessert/lunch at a native French couple's cafe called Choclatine. Holly's been talking and talking about this place for the last six months, so I was jazzed to finally be able to try it with her. Holly has studied three years of French, so I quite enjoyed witnessing her jibber-jabber in the French language with Hugo, one of the owners of the cafe who treated Holly like an old friend because of her frequent appearances in his store. Holly ordered us two cups of hot chocolate and two raspberry tarts with chocolate mousse.


My goodness, you guys, this was the first hot chocolate I've ever tried that was worthy of the name. You see, I've always been a huge fan of the idea of hot chocolate, but I'm almost always severely disappointed upon my first sip of a drink by that name because it either tastes like hot water with a hint of cocoa dusting, or it's basically hot sugar water. My hopes were raised upon hearing Kim Archer's description of her hot chocolate from France: she said it tasted like a melted candy bar, the way hot chocolate SHOULD taste. At Choclatine, the hot chocolate was WELL worthy of the name. And the thick dallop of homemade whip cream on top added the perfect touch to the already practically perfect drink.
Oh, and I should mention that after preparing our drinks and treats from behind the counter, Hugo served us our orders himself! Did I mention that his wife's name is Sabrina? Isn't that perfect? Those are just the names you would want for a French couple that owns a chocolate cafe.
Holly and I spent about an hour at Choclatine, savoring our treats, catching up with each other's lives and LAUGHING. Before we left, we ordered some truffles to go. We decided to try their chili pepper truffles, because ever since watching Chocolate, I've been immensely curious about chili pepper chocolate. Holly had never seen the movie but decided to trust my enthusiasm and get that kind of truffle also.
We drove to Malibu, set up camp on a perfect spot at Zuma Beach, laid down on our blanket and tried the truffles.
They were SO good, totally worth it, I would totally get one again, and again and again and again! Later that evening Holly described to her parents the experience of biting down into one of the chocolates like this: "Mmmmm, chocolate....fiesta??"
The sensation was pretty much the same as the one you get when you bite down into delicious chocolate, but there is an added burn and warmth in your mouth as you savor and swallow. And a slight flavor of chili pepper. But a good flavor.
Because Holly and I are crazy about SWIMMING at the beach, it surprised us both that after laying down, we didn't want to get back up again. In fact, we both fell asleep for about an hour. It was such a deep, relaxing beach sleep. We both felt so wonderful when we woke up. We decided to take a picture.
After sitting and talking for a bit, she decided to treat me to a Starbucks "for my birthday." Yeah right. The drink was wonderful and she was so sweet to buy it for me, but "for my birthday?" Please. Everyone who knows Holly knows that ever since she started working there, she cannot go a day without Starbucks. I even asked her how often there is a day when she doesn't get her Starbucks fix. She raised her eyebrows, pursed her lips, and didn't answer. And she slightly giggled. :) I got a white chocolate mocha, for the record. That's my favorite drink there at the moment. WITH whip. You can never go without the whip.
When we got home, we helped Mrs. Schultz prepare minestrone soup made with fresh homegrown vegetables. I'm so thankful that my tastes for vegetables finally came around in the last few years, it opens up a whole new world of tasty pleasure! This soup was very good, needless to say. Before we went to bed, Holly and I watched Chocolate, in memory of our day at Choclatine.

And so concluded day one of our adventures together. There's much more to come, but it is now time for me to get ready for my first day of classes tomorrow!! Because Heather wants to see pictures and stories from Choclatine so badly, I'm posting this part now. The second installment of our time together will be posted soon, I hope!

Discovered a few things about myself tonight

I love Claim Jumper's chocolate chip calzone. My dad treated my little brother and me to dessert at that restaurant tonight to serve as a little "Goodbye, Summer!" party. I got a coffee and my share of the unbelievably enjoyable dessert, and was superbly happy as I savored and chatted the night away with my dad and brother.

The other thing I discovered: I am in love with the song The Prayer.

The last thing I discovered: I think The Prayer is prettiest when Charlotte Church sings it with Josh Groban rather than Celine Dion and Josh Groban. I compared the two choices on YouTube tonight. Its amazing...compared to Charlotte Church, Celine Dion seems to have a small vocal range! I've always dreamt of being able to sing like Charlotte Church does in The Prayer. I wonder if Charlotte Church ever sang that song with Andrea Bocelli? Now THAT would be purely heart-stopping, quite as heart-stopping as certain men who wear shirts that match their eye-color. I saw one over the weekend and I think my heart did stop.

Hmmm, maybe I shouldn't have had caffeine at Claim Jumper tonight.

Before I go to bed I'll check out the Charlotte Church and Andrea Bocelli idea. I hope its a reality!!

Back!!

My team touched down in LA a little over two weeks ago after our ten days of missions work together in Kiev, Ukraine. I wasn't planning on writing much about the trip here on my blog, reasoning that the thank-you letter I would send to all of my supporters would be enough. I think I've changed my mind, though. It would be nice to tell people what the trip was like without the formal air of a missions letter. Because many of you who read this will be getting my missions thank-you letter also, I'm going to be creative with my blog account of the ministry. Let's have some fun, hmm.....

Here are 5 Ways God Demonstrated Himself During My Mission Trip Experience

But before I start, I realize many of you might need some background info about the trip, having not received my original letter that described what I would be doing in Ukraine. So here goes with the background, I hope I can make it short, casual, efficient and intriguing for you. Hmm, actually, I just realized why this background info will NO DOUBT be intriguing to you: I can't give you any. If you want to know more about what my team did in Ukraine and why we did it, shoot me an email or grab me at church or something. But for security reasons I'm not going to put any more information on this blog about the trip than I originally planned.

Without further ado, 5 Ways God Demonstrated Himself During My Mission Trip Experience

1) God showed me that His plans are usually much different from what I assume are His plans.
Let me tell you a story. For the first few weeks after I sent out my letter asking people for the necessary funds to make the trip possible, it was looking like my team was actually going to gather in ALL of the money in record timing. "Woot!" I thought to myself, "Check fund-raising off of this summer's to do list. Let's move on to bigger and better things!" With immense relief, I thought it was apparent that for the first time in four years, it was not God's plan to have my team play the trusting game (looking back now, I think my relief was proof that I have never really played the game successfully). The game goes like this: My team tries as hard as possible beginning in April to raise the required $23,000 to conduct ministry in Eastern Europe, but for three months our ministry account dwindles around $14,000 or less. Finally, three weeks before the Belarusians expect us to be with them, with our plane tickets reserved but not purchased, our hearts are encouraged by the fact that though our plans for ministry look like they are falling through financially, our God is bigger than appearances, finances, and human logic about the future. We are assured that our God is in perfect control of the situation, and that if He wants us in Belarus or Ukraine this specific summer, He will get us there. And He would get us there not because of any work or merit of our own, not even because of our fund-raising work, but He would get us there through His power. That's what the trusting game produces: childlike trust in God, a trust that becomes one of the major themes of the mission trip as we fully rely on God throughout all the situations, complex and impossible though they may seem, that God brings our way during our time in Eastern Europe.

So I think you know where the rest of this story is going. Of course, Hayley's Assumption #1, that God didn't want us to play the trusting game, was ________. Fill in the blank. Yes, incorrect.

I'm pretty sure I'm correct in saying that very generous people donated half of my support in the three weeks following the sending of my letter, but my personal ministry account remained stagnant at halfway up there until about three weeks before our scheduled departure for Ukraine. During that time between the initial surge and the final three weeks before we wanted to take off from LAX, Hayley's Assumption #2 appeared: God must not want us in Ukraine this summer. And I was convinced. I didn't believe it was a lack of faith on my part, I thought I was simply trusting God in all of His decisions. I thought of my other team members as slightly foolish to keep planning the trip when we were stuck in California with next to no money while new expenses kept popping up for us to cover over in Ukraine.

So when God opened up the floodgates of His resources in the three weeks leading up to my team's departure, I stood dumbfounded again, while my dad smiled, praised God, and said confidently, "He's done it again!" Throughout the entire summer, my dad had been reminding our team of Psalm 37:4, "Delight yourself in the LORD; And He will give you the desires of your heart." As each team member individually asked God for assistance in making Him their delight, the desire He laid on our hearts for the summer was Ukraine. I'm not saying that just because we desired Ukraine, I should have been sure that we were going to get there. Instead, I'm saying that the lesson I learned through this year's trusting game is that when I have a desire like that, I should not assume that God has shut the doors when early on the desire looks impossible to be fulfilled. I should have waited on God and let my heart and mind wait until the very last second or until circumstances PROVED that He wanted otherwise for me and my fellow team members. Giving up on the desire He had given me before He had given the final answer proved my impatience, assuming nature, and it was, I believe, contrary to His will.

Thank You, God, for demonstrating Your power and sovereignty!!

2) God showed us that He is the God of the nations.
Slipping this reason in here is more just my way of telling you what a thrill it gives me to watch the Belarusians praise God in song in their own language. When it's time for Belarusian musical worship, it is the American team's time to sit back and do nothing because we can't really join them in song. I usually take this time to pray, sing in English if they're singing a song that I know in my language, or, most of the time I sit back and watch my fellow believers praise the God they love for His salvation and continuing love. They know Him intimately in their Russian language, I know Him intimately in my English language, and He knows all of His children, from all of the nations, intimately. He is the Creator of language, after all! I wonder in what language we will praise God in Heaven? Anyways, in the early years, when the Belarusians still loved to sing "Shout to the Lord," I found it so exhilarating to sing the line "Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing" in English while my Belarusian friends sang it in Russian! Cool, huh?

3) God showed me that His creation is best enjoyed in its natural form.
Well, at least I know that I enjoy His creation best in its natural form. I can't speak for everyone else. If you enjoy processed foods and laboratory formulated face masks, go ahead and enjoy it up! I've found over the years that I really do LOVE the simple foods of Belarus, with no added preservatives or...anything. Most of it is just God-given FOOD. The way He prepared it for us. I especially love their breads, tea, salad (usually just vegetables and oil), and BUCKWHEAT!! Ooo, I gobble up the buckwheat. I eat it like I do brown rice. My dad and little brother think I'm crazy ridiculous for liking the food over there so much, but I really do!

And the reason that I mentioned face masks is that one evening, after the formality of lessons and small groups and such, we all divided up into boys and girls for Boys Night and Girls Night. During Girls Night we did facials, ate sweets and watched a movie, but I was most ecstatic about the facials. The girls in charge of Girls Night made homemade facemasks, one recipe was SUPER dark bread and water (kind of weird sounding, I know, but it actually felt really good). Another recipe was keifer (aka, buttermilk, kind of), oatmeal, and bananas. One of the girls on my team who tried that mask said that for the next three days, she didn't have to wear foundation because the skin on her face was all even and glowing. After the masks, we rubbed our faces with cucumber slices, FELT SO STINKIN' GOOD! And, I find out later that there is a chemical in cucumber (also found in potato slices) that naturally shrinks pores to a smaller size.

When I got home I did my own mini-girls night and found some all-natural recipes on the internet. For my face mask I used banana, olive oil and oatmeal. I also made a toner out of herbal water (thankfully I had some bath tea from Alaska that I used to make the herbal water) and cider vinegar. I've been using the toner twice a day ever since and am LOVING how soft my skin is, AND, I'm not seeing the need to wear foundation every day! Yay for all-natural products with fabulous benefits!

4) God showed once again that His love for us produces IN us enthusiastic love for Him and therefore, for others.
This was evidenced in the faces of most of the Belarusian believers whenever we went into the city of Kiev to assist a church there in open-air evangelism. Open-air evangelism is something the Belarusians have been deprived of doing since who knows when in their own country, so coming to a place like Ukraine where there is religious freedom is a breath of fresh air to these kids. They LOVE their freedom and the way they can put it to use. We saw a lot of fruit from the evangelism, too. I'm not completely sure if anyone's eyes were opened to the truths of Christ while we were there, but there were quite a few who were so close, and they expressed interest in attending the church there and learning more.

5) God showed me that His work of sanctification in the hearts of those who are His is an on-going, constant process.
I think I already knew this truth, but it hit home in an interesting way during and after this summer's trip. There is a sin issue that I struggle with almost constantly that becomes more of a burden under certain circumstances but is always, nonetheless, there. And though I hate the sin I'm dealing with, I'm forever falling because of it and am therefore forever asking for God's forgiveness (which, by the way, He already granted to me because of the work of His Son on the Cross...still, I love Him and what He's done for me so much that I want to love Him with my WHOLE heart and with my actions, so that is why I call this a sin struggle: I am struggling against this sin, even though I am already forgiven from it). It's totally the Romans 7 ordeal: "For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing." Anyways, like I said, there are certain circumstances in which this struggle becomes intense and during which I fail a lot more easily, and God chose for there to be one of these circumstances on this trip. I was kind of going, "NOW, God? Seriously? When I'm trying to concentrate on ministry" (Hehe, like my sin is His fault. If I wasn't sinful, the circumstance He provided wouldn't have helped me to stumble.) Finally, I got so flustered, fed up and sad because of my sin that I cried it out to God, asked Him to take away this sin once and for all, telling Him that I was ready to give it up and love Him perfectly in this area starting NOW and ending never. But the more I prayed, the more I realized that I had no idea how to just simply give it up. Ok, I'll go to the Bible. Where does it give me the formula for how to give this up? Needless to say, I couldn't find that formula. But I was SURE there was one. When I got back home I set up an appointment with my dad to talk about this struggle and ask him how to give up the sin. I went to the appointment with a pen and paper, seriously believing that I would leave my time with him with a battle plan.
So, I told my sympathetic and compassionate Dad all about the sin and my long struggle, and tearfully asked him how I could give it up. His answer put me in a bad mood for a few minutes but when it sunk it, it helped me to rejoice in God's salvation even more. He said I can't give up the sin. I'll ALWAYS deal with it. It's not our job to remove the sin from our hearts, leave God's jobs to God and His timing. Hate the sin, continually repent from it, but stop trying to play the Holy Spirit in removing it from your heart. I tried to tell my dad that battle plan wouldn't work because it's the one I've been using for YEARS and see the results? Nothing. Just failure. He said yes, you've failed numerous times and will fail numerous times again, but trust in the promise of Philippians 1:6 that He is continually working in you, and after that, live the life that God wants you to live here on this Earth. A life of humility and brokenness and ever-increasing love for our Savior who died for us even when He knew that after we come to a knowledge of His sacrifice, we will still sin against Him.
Encouraging news is the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

So those are my five ways. I'm sure there are more but this post is long enough as is. Email me if you want more!