Blessings

Hello everybody!!!(in the Gru accent...if you have seen Despicable Me, you know what I am talking about).

Sorry I have not posted in a while. I have not forgotten I have a blog, I think about doing a blog post but I don't.

I will share what I have been doing the last few months since my last post. (if i can think back that far).

Hmmm, in June, I did summer semester at Chaffey College where I am currently attending. I took two classes which were Composition, or English, and College Algebra. Composition was easy; however, college algebra was not. I failed all of the tests and I was afraid that I was going to fail the class, but praise the Lord, I got a passing score on the final which my teacher said on the syllabus that we had to get at least a 65 or 68, I can't remember, and that our final grade would replace our lowest test grade, so it was the final that saved me from failing and having to take the class again.

In my composition class, we had a professor who was young and I think she might have just finished grad school. She was so cute, her name was Claire. She told us that she wouldn't be teaching at Chaffey College anymore because she got a job in San Diego that she would be working with students one on one to help them with school. I don't know exactly what else she would be doing. I passed Composition too.

After school ended, I went to Catalina with my Uncle and my cousin. It was so fun. I love Catalina. We left bright and early on a Tuesday morning, at 6:30 am because our boat left at nine and we had to be at the dock by 8:30 am. Getting up this early wasn't that hard because I have had to wake up earlier to go to my church at 4:30 in the morning to go to the airport for a 7:30 am flight. We left out of Newport harbor on the Catalina Flyer. The boat ride was so fun. After we got to Catalina, we hiked, yes hiked, with packs that my uncle and I were carrying and a regular sized backpack that my cousin was carrying. The hike from the boat dock to our campsite was about a mile and a half. It was hard but we did it. After we got to our campsite we set up our tent, my cousin and I shared a tent and my uncle was in his own tent. After we set up camp, I think we had lunch, then after lunch we got into our swimsuits and walked down to the beach which allot easier than walking up. The water was cold but it was fun.

I don't want to bore you with every single detail of all that we did so I'll just tell you that we went kayaking all day on Thursday, we went snorkeling in Lover's cove on Friday and we took a golf-cart tour on Friday as well. We also went on a 4.5 mile hike. which was amazing, yes amazing, i know some of you would be shocked to find that I found the hike enjoyable. I was a girl scout and in all the years I was a girl scout, we never took long hikes like the one we took in Catalina. We also met some friends which was exciting, so we weren't on the island alone with only ourselves to talk to which isn't bad, it's just nice to talk to people you don't see on a regular or semi-regular basis. One lady worked on the dock where our boat left from at a outdoor education place, one man was from america but has polish roots, one girl was from Windsor, and One man was from South Africa. For those who don't know, Catalina is a major tourist attraction. While we were out and about I heard a couple accents that I think were from the UK and Germany. Disneyland may be the Happiest Place on Earth to some people but to me, Catalina is the Happiest Place on Earth. I can't wait to go to Catalina again in the very near future.

The trip was so fun and we came back Saturday afternoon at about 6 or 7. I hope to go again soon.

Presently I am in school which started in August and I am enjoying my classes. I have Principles of Macroeconomics, Introduction to Religion, Earth Science, and Introduction to Sociology. My teacher are great except my Macroeconomics teacher who has a very dry sense of humor and isn't as fun as my other teachers. My intro to religion teacher is so fun and funny that some days I hate when class is over. The discussions in my Sociology class are very fun and enjoyable. My earth science teacher is amazing as well. The first day of class he reminded me of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory.

Yesterday, I celebrated my 22nd birthday. I had a great day and I enjoyed my birthday. My mother made me a devils food cake and after my mother, sister, and brother-in-love got home from work, they sang Happy Birthday to me and we ate cake. I was able to blow my candles out with one breath(I think the ceiling fan might have helped a little bit. There is no one I would rather spend my birthday with than my mother, sister, brother-in-love, niece and nephew. My grandma and uncle kind of ruined my day but I don't want to get into that.

I got roller blades for my birthday and they look like the roller blades I had when I was little.

I am so blessed and yesterday I was reminded of that.

I would like to end my post with the Doxology which is a song/prayer people sing before meals.

Praise God from Whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Amen

God bless you all my brothers and sisters in Christ,
Jennifer

How deep

I was looking through some old posts on a blog that I follow and I came across a post with the words from the song, How deep the Father's love for us. I love this song and I hope this song brings you love, peace, and comfort in knowing how much God loves all of his children. May you also meditate on the scripture I have on the bottom of this post, John 3:16.

Here are the lyrics. Enjoy.

 



How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

 How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

 Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
(REPEAT)

 

 

"For God so Loved the world, that He gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him, shall not perish, but have eternal life"

John 3:16 

Trust in the Lord....

This year I was able to be an assistant guide, with the first and second grade class with my church's Children's Caravan Program. For those who don't know, Caravan is a scouting program that meets Wednesday nights at my church and it is like Boy scouts or Girl Scouts in the way they earn badges and go on camping trips but the only difference is that the badges are always tied in to a verse in the bible. The children also work on memorizing what is known as Articles of Faith or I believes, depending on what grade the student is in. At the beginnning the chilren have a game night where they can get to know their teachers and their fellow classmates. At the end, the children go to an event called Round-up where they get together and go camping over a weekend from friday night to sunday afternoon. While at Round-up, the children get to meet other children in the Church of the Nazarene district and they play games, do crafts, roast 'smores, sing songs, and are tested on their memory work/articles of faith/i believes.

When the children have gone through the program from benson's buddies up to adventurers and have earned every badge there is to earn, they are eligible to earn the Phineas Brasee award and the Esther Carson award. I had the great privilege of earning both and my name was engraved in a plaque in the sanctuary foyer but our the sanctuary building was flooded due to a leak in the fireside room so they had to completely redo the carpet and they repainted which meant the plaques had  to come down. They have not put the plaques back up yet..... should I say something about that? lol 

;-)

One other fun event the children get to be apart of is the Pinewood Derby. Now if you have heard about the boy scouts having a pinewood derby, it is basically the same thing. the children make cars out of blocks of wood, paint them however they want, and they are raced against the other cars made by their classmates and other children form the church of the nazarene district. It is so fun to meet other children from our area and cheer each others cars on. This year three of our students went home with awards. My neice took second in her age group and one of her classmates took fourth. One of our benson's buddies even took home second place i believe. I'm not sure.

In two weeks we will be packing up and heading the the Caravan Round-up and I am really excited. I'm going as one of the chaperones and my sister is going as support to my neice and mephew because they have never stayed overnight away from home before and if they are anything like my sister, they will cry and get homesick and want to come home. I don't get homesick. I don't think I ever have. My sister got all of those genes. By the time I was my nieces age, I had already been to caravan overnight outings i think once and I was getting ready to go on i think my second trip to childrens camp. My niece is ten by the way. By the time I was my nephews age I had been to science camp in big bear, gone to summer camp three times i think or going on my third time, and getting ready to go to my third of fourth time at caravan roundup. I have even been to Hawaii by my self with my youth group as well as New Orleans and Canada. (Yeah even out of the country). I think I might die young.. knock on wood....because of the full life I have had.

 

Below I have posted the caravan symbol and the symbols for each grade with a short description about each. I hope you find them infromative.

 



 

This is the ensignia(sp?) that used to be on the old caravan shirts that were worn when I was in Caravan.
Photo courtesy of Google image search

Photo courtesy of google image search

 

This is the symbol/picture for the Benson's Buddies. The Benson's Buddies are the youngest children of the caravan program and range from ages 4-kindergarden.
Photo courtesy of google image search.

This is the symbol/picture for Searchers. Searchers are children who are in grades First and Second. The placement of class is based off of what grade in school the children are in currently.
Photo courtesy of Goolge image search.

 

Explorers and children who are in third and fourth grade. My neice, Cheyenne is in fourth grade, so next year she will be an adventurer if she continues in the Caravan program.
Photo courtesy of Google inage search.

Last but not least is the Adventurers. These are children who are in fifth and sixth grade. My nephew, Sean, is in this class.
Photo courtesy of google image search.

 God Bless you all,
your sister in christ,
Jennifer

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandings, in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

Proverbs 3:5 & 6