Aaron

Everyone loves stories. Don't they?

Stories take you back to another time in your life. Stories make you laugh, make you cry, make you feel again what you experienced in that exact moment you are retelling. Stories are full of beauty. I love stories.

About 4 years ago, my mom and I were driving on a dark Oregon road to my grandparents house. It was late at night and we had been in the car for a very very long time coming from California. We were maybe 10 minutes away from my grandparents house when we heard a strange sound. We pulled over, and I saw our tire. It was completly blown. We were in trouble.

My mom started to worry. All I was worried about is that I had to pee. So I told my mom to remain calm and we would just call AAA. So we took out our phones and we had no service. NONE. So we couldn't call my grandparents to tell them we were going to be late. As if this wasn't an adventure enough, my mom has a broken arm and was in a cast. If that wasn't enough, our car was completely full of my stuff because I was moving to college for the first time. To access the spare tire, we needed to empty the entire car in the dark, late at night on a windy two lane Oregon highway.

We prayed. We prayed for someone to help, a miracle. We didn't know what else to do. After some waiting, I told my mom to wave my white pillowcase out the window. She did. A few people drove by in what seemed like forever. No one really stopped and the cars were becoming less and less. One person finally slowed down, but shouted out the window, and then drove off. We were really starting to worry that we would be spending the night in the car. I really worried that I was going to pee my pants.

Finally, a man pulled up behind us. My mom was really worried so she locked the car and barely rolled the window down a crack. He asked if we were alright, and we told him we had a flat. He offered to help. We got out of the car and showed him the problem. We told him we had a car full of stuff. He willingly told us, "I can fix that!" After he was finished and put on the spare, he introduced himself. He stumbled over his named and murmured "A-A-Aaron." We thanked him so very much and got back in our car. As we looked in the rear-view mirror, his car and lights were nowhere to be found. It was almost as if he disappeared. Our prayer was answered. We believe Aaron was an angel. The story gives us chills. But there is no other explanation about what happened that night and what we experienced.

Weekend in Portland

I had such a great weekend in Portland with Caeli! I drove up Friday afternoon and we spent the afternoon talking and catching up. We laid down for a bit and ended up napping until we had to leave for the University of Portland Pilots soccer game.

It was such a great game. We sported purple just for the occasion. 

The Portland Pilots ended up winning the game 1 to 0. It was a really great game! Caeli and I enjoyed the whole game and chatted the whole time about playing soccer in the spring with intramural at Dixon.

Saturday we got the opportunity to go to the Fish Festival. We got free front row passes! It was a great day. Preforming was: Mark Shultz, P.F.R, Matt Maher, Fireflight, Downhere, Britt Nicole, Kutless, and Jeremy Camp!

It was such a fun day. I love this girl so much! On Sunday, we went to church. I felt like such a bad person. I accidentally took a shot of wine during communion, and then we left second service early to get margaritas. I don't really have any shame. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Recap: a week in the life

This last week has been nothing but absolute craziness!

last Thursday: Bachelorette Party for Emily in downtown Portland

All the Ladies!

Friday: last minute wedding craziness and rehearsal dinner

Saturday: WEDDING DAY!

getting her hair done!

morning of the day!

the Beautiful Bride and Maid of Honor

My handsome date! :)

The couple's first dance

the 4 of us :)

Later Saturday evening, I drove to my Aunt's house and started family craziness! My aunt was having a surprise 50th birthday party and I got there just to enjoy the tail end of it (still in wedding attire!)

My big brother and I

Sunday: What a great day! We had church outside at my uncle's cute little country church. After church, we had a chilli cook-off picnic and played all sorts of games.

Me and Dan with our grandparents!

I'm the auntie of this cute little kid :)

my Mom and I. Isn't she beautiful?

Blake and my Mom playing in the grass

my Grandma playing and singing with Blake

Later that afternoon, we got to watch old family videos of when my mom was a kid. It was so cool to see my mom as a little kid and my grandma as a cute little young thang! We decided to spend the evening hiking Multnomah Falls!

All the cousins! We're all so big now!

 

Me with Dan, Stasia, and Blake

Oregon is stunning!

Dan and I at the top

After the hike, we all went out for pizza!

Monday: We had a leisure morning and then we decided to go float the Sandy River. 

Dan tied the canoe to the car!

Family picnic

Dan and I floating along

Stasia and I showing our excitement!

Tuesday: I'm back in Corvallis! Anna and I did our blackberry goodness!

Wednesday: Emily and Jonathan drove through Corvallis post-honeymoon, so they met up with Greg and I for a bit. We ate at American Dream pizza and strolled a bit through campus. Later that evening, my family arrived! We went out for Indian Food and stayed up late all talking. 

Thursday: We spent the morning walking around the OSU campus!

Starting him young: He's a beaver believer!

I literally said while taking this picture, "Oh no! I'm ganna look like a freshman!"

In front of Valley Library: Dan, me and Mom

Blake and I in class

We spent a bit of the afternoon cooling down in my apartment and then headed south to the Oregon Coast!

It was in the 60's!

Stasia and I found a really cool pirate ship slide!

We went to Mo's for dinner and enjoyed yummy clam chowder!

I had a great time with my family! I'm so excited for this weekend and my adventures with Caeli in Portland!

This summer has been nothing like I expected, but I have been overwhelmed with love, friendship, and God's faithfulness. I love the many adventures I have gotten to go on, experience, learn from, and grow.

Blackberries and C-town

Last night was my first night back in Corvallis after absolute wedding craziness. (Which by the way, was SO much fun). I'll write more about that later when more pictures trickle in from many different sources.

Anna and I had made plans to get together for a long time, so we did! We ate dinner at Cafe Yumm, which is pretty much our favorite place in all of Corvallis. We decided to go blackberry picking and bake, so we did! We got home, washed the berries, and baked this yummylicous desert that we both enjoyed!
After we ate, we both did some painting, crafting, and Lion King line reciting. We had our favorite movie on in the background and we both know pretty much every single line of that whole movie. Have you ever noticed how many life lessons are in the Lion King? There are a lot! It is such a great movie!

 We layered the blackberries on the bottom of the dish and lightly sprinkled sugar over them. Then we used a can of dough and dipped it into melted butter and rolled it in a cinnamon sugar mixture. We layered the dough pieces over the top and baked for about 20 minutes. The end result was fantastic!

I like to read.

I do like to read. Not textbooks, but I do enjoy hearing stories. Love stories, God stories, amazing stories of adventure. Who doesn't like stories?

I just finished reading my favorite book of all time! You really should read it if you have some time on your hands...or even if you don't. Cuz its amazing. And inspiring. and God is so unbelievably freakin amazing.

This real story tells the story of a man named Stephen Lingu and the amazing power of the saving truth of Jesus Christ. It reveals how powerful prayer is, how mighty to save Jesus is and how a life invested in God REALLY can be transformed.

You won't believe it unless you read it. Have I made my case?
Read it.


I spent the weekend with my future roomies (cuz I'm moving!) at a house in Pacific City. Corvallis was a WHOPPING 102 degrees. No thank you. So we jetted off to the coast where it was 88. On the coast, that is a REALLY big deal. Oregon coast is not like the California coast. The coolest part of the weekend? I SAW A WHALE! More than once! It may have been more than one whale, I'm not sure. But who gets to say they saw a whale in the ocean?! I do. That's who. Oh and everyone else who was there that day. And my roommates. Okay, so I guess a lot of people do, but it was still really cool!

And the Iphone tells the story of...

This last weekend/half of week, I got to spend some time in Portland. I spent the weekend with Emily doing wedding prep galore. On Sunday, we went to Solid Rock and I ran into some friends from Corvallis! :)

me, Emily, Sara, and Tina! <3 (the boys are not photographed)

Emily gets married in 8 days. EIGHT. {enter here squeals, jumping, and the big to-do pile} Then her and her hubs are moving across the country to Tennessee. I'm ganna miss this lady. We were so busy, I didn't get around to taking any pictures. I spent a majority of my time working on the Wedding Playlist. Really, I was just illegally downloading songs hardcore. Shhhh. Ladies and gentlemen, I don't think you understand what this tasks entails. I'll be honest with you: click, copy, paste, find song somewhere on hard drive, put into itunes, playlist. bam. NEXT. It took hours upon hours. BUT I'm so glad I could do it instead of the Bride.

The future Mr. & Mrs.

Monday evening, Brynn and I did a test run on Emily's wedding day makeup. I can't say any more than that, but it is going to be GREAT. Brynn and I went out to dinner with her Dad. YUM. We went to Chevy's and we delighted in cocktails and mexican food. Is there really anything better? Well, yeah, there is. But I really enjoyed my pina colada.
When we got home, we put on the Olympics. I gotta say, these people are so deserving to be there. They do some amazing stuff! While we were watching the Olympics, we laughed our booties off reading Damn You Auto Correct. Have you ever read it? You should. Pure hilariousness.

I don't know how we came up with this idea but Brynn had some extra fireworks she didn't use on the 4th of July, so we headed out into the church parking lot behind her apartment and let some loose. We we're having all sorts of fun and laughter, until we realized how late at night it was and we saw a cop car driving down the street. We picked up everything and ran inside. SO WORTH IT.

The next day, we headed to Salem. The birthplace of our beautiful friendship. I got a haircut and Brynn got a new piercing! I have been contemplating getting my nose pierced for nearly 2 years, and I almost did, but I chickened out. In my defense, I don't have ANY piercings at all. Not even my ears!

We went out for really good, but expensive BBQ. I put a napkin in my shirt. Yes, I was that person and I have no shame. It was worth it for every single fabulous bite of ribs. Ah, drooling just remembering how good it was. We then came home, put on the Olympics and did a puzzle. Don't judge us, it was a really hard one. We worked on it patiently for all 3 hours of the Olympics. 

We kept losing pieces, and then I realized they all somehow managed to land in the crotch of my sweatpants. Don't ask. I was (and still am) as confused as you to how they got there. We laughed hysterically.
Favorite moment of the night: Brynn goes "is it weird I like to eat..." And before she could finish her sentence I said, "no, most people eat..." and we died. Literally. If laughter could induce dying it would have happened that night. Love this girl so so much. AND I'm so beyond happy she is finally back in Oregon!

Lately, I've decided to take on the task of riding a bike. {large amounts of laughter here}Yes, I do not know how to ride a bike. So Greg and I walked downtown to Peak Sports so I could get correctly sized for a bike. They let us take the bikes out on a test drive. So we did, or really, Greg did. I went on a nice walk with my bike. I rode it for probably 0.5 seconds, if that. I attempted, and Greg laughed. After such a refreshing walk downtown, we stopped at The Beanery for blended chai, and then walked to central park. I played on the swings and went down the slide. I enjoyed acting like I was 5. What's better than that? Really.

Then we decided a swim would sound absolutely decadent. So we got Peter to go along with us, and we all went swimming. Did I mention I've been sick? Well I have. My life has revolved around this nasty cough that induces dry heaving and lack of breathing. Swimming? I didn't think that one through. But it was still a refreshing little dip. Later that evening, we went on a motorcycle ride since Greg sells the beloved bike today. We enjoyed a last ride on the beautiful red babe. Or, I did. I'm not really sure if Greg enjoyed it. I couldn't see where we were most of the time, so I was singing worship in my helmet while it was too windy for Greg to hear me. I live a really beautiful life and I am amazed at the many ways God answers my prayers, hears my every word, and blesses me with such wonderful people to love.

I am more

You are more by Tenth Avenue North

^"What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:

'For your sake we face death all day long we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'

 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Romans 8:31-39

Listen to the words of this song. Let the words of truth penetrate your heart. I know this is something I need to continue to learn again and again. There is nothing you can do to make God love you any more, and there is nothing you can do to make God love you any less. His love just is. And you can either accept the free gift of his love, or you can chose something else. I will always chose His love for me, cuz I cannot live without it.