Snow in Marysville

I love snow...Probably one of my favorite things about the winter. We were promised a HUGE storm and as Washington weather-people usually get it wrong, we weren't expecting anything. Luckily, we did get a couple of inches that stuck to the ground!!

Life at home has been great. It is fun to all be back together and I think Sarah is loving having Peter and me at home. Two days ago, Brian and I got to babysit my second cousin Mikayla while her parents went out for a date. The Doupe's just welcomed in a new baby girl Isabella last week! Speaking of babies, my little Genevieve Lilly turns THREE today and we celebrated her birth on Saturday with all of her family.

Coming home has been such a blessing and I can't wait for my AUNT to get here to make it really feel like Christmas.

Oh and as a treat for Brian and I, my dad paid for us to go to Arnies' last night, right on the Mulkiteo waterfront, but only if we had Daniel as our server. Neither of us had been there and it was a real treat to see Daniel in his element. His tables loved him and even one old lady I believe was hitting on him.

I hope to give you more Holiday updates!! Many blessing. =]

Thanksgiving!

As Alyssa would say...the Malibu of the Northwest....Marysville is still kicking. I arrived very excited to see everyone late Tuesday night! My parents, Brian, Peter, and Sarah all picked me up. We dropped Peter back off at his dorm and drove back to the good ol' M-ville. I had a great time hanging out with friends and family. Some of the highlights were....

1. Seeing my girls. Sophia is now FIVE and is a little adult. She tells me she loves me everytime I see her which is a real treat for me. Genevieve is almost THREE and just a chatter box and a cuddler. Every time I kiss her she says, "Oh shucks." Adorable.
2. Thanksgiving dinner was great too. My Clark G-rents came up and it was great spending time with them. We also had the Lillys over as well as my mom's cousin and baby girl.
   
3. Family pictures is always a good time, considering anytime all six of us are together it is filled with laughter.
4. The annual Turkey bowl was a success right up until Sarah's friend broke his collar bone.
   
5. Spending time with Brian and his family was also a treat.
6. Just before I left I got to fit in one last visit with the other grandparents so it was a wonderful surprise to hang out with them too.
   

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! This week and next are filled with studying and finals so I hope you are praying for me!! Love!

Week from H-E-double hockey sticks!

I have been so excited for Thanksgiving that I kind of forgot that this week was coming. This past week has been probably the most intense week of the semester and not because I had a lot of tests or anything, it was more of lack of motivation with the combination of things to get done. For my biostatistics lab, we had to propose a research project. This included writing a ten or so page paper discussing previous research and yes that means reading a bunch of previous research, as well a ten minute presentation to the class. Luckily, my group was fantastic and we all put a lot of effort into and did really well. So if anyone needs to know about childhood obesity and the school's built environment, let me know.

Another nerve racking this week was my Monday exercise physiology lab...rectal thermometers. No joke. The whole class had to do it and there was terror across all of our faces. Now having completed one of the most uncomfortable and awkward things of my life...it was fine. But I do feel slightly violated by the lab. Next week is body density in water. Should be interesting. So with everything else, I had all of my normal homework as well as beginning a study guide for my ex phys test on Monday. Then I am free for five days!!

This week did have some highlights...I got to spend last Saturday hanging out with my aunt at a house concert in LA. Also my new small group had its second meeting on Wednesday and this is an amazing group. We all get along so well and get to talk about the Bible and life. It's great. So I hope to see whoever reads this thing soon. Love.

Hi all!

Hi Everybody,
Life is good in the bu. I am enjoying a pause in tests until finals and am excited about Thanksgiving coming up soon. Recently, I feel like I have been spending a lot of time at school, working on projects and studying. This extra time there makes me even more grateful for living off campus. It is nice to go home to a place that isn't school. We've had lots of different friends over for dinner which has been fun. We love sharing our apartment with others. In fact, Kelsey's family will be spending Thanksgiving here this year while Amy and I go home.

Today, I am off to the Malibu Presbyterian University Ministry Retreat! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Good luck to my sister at diving districts and to the MPHS football team at the first round of playoffs!

El Matador

While you make think living in Malibu is filled with surf and sand, you are completely right. After being gone a semester from the beautiful beaches, I decided that I needed to go there at least once a week. Not only is the scenery beautiful, the beach calms me down. This week I got to go twice! The first was after our chapel on Wednesday. My roommates and I headed down to El Matador beach. This seclusive beach is about 15 minutes north on PCH and breathtaking. It is quite a hike down to the water but there are towering rocks that give it quite a isolated feel. It was so private, a couple rocks down from us we believed a middle age male nudist party was going down. Awkward. But other than that, I went into the ocean several times, completed some homework, and soaked up the sun. Not a bad day.

San Felipe

Hi all! This past weekend I went on a mission trip to San Felipe, Mexico. While we were all a little scared to cross the border, I realized that we are called to do God's work in all places. to be. So we hoped that the drug wars wouldn't cause us any issues and drove down Thursday/Friday morning. San Felipe is about 2.5 hours into Mexico. We stayed at a camp and there were about 50 of us students there. It was a blast.

Our main objectives were to build a house and serve the community. The house took a lot of effort since it was made entirely out of bricks (cylinder blocks) and then I had the special role after that was completed of cutting, bending, and placing the rebar everywhere. We passed out beans, rice, and flour to the community and while my Spanish is no good...we had several people who fluently spoke the language. Why did I take German?...great question. Another outreach to the community was our Kids Party. They made crafts, played with toys, ate lunch, watched a play about Jonah, sang songs, and busted open a pinata. It was one of the highlights of my trip because I made friends with a seven year old girl, Mariela. While I couldn't speak Spanish and she couldn't speak English, she taught me how to say the colors in Spanish and we colored together. Adorable. :)

This trip was my first experience with the Church of Christ group on campus. I really enjoyed my time and fellowship there. We had delicious Mexican food in the town and prepared by the wife of the family the house was going to. We made it back safe and sound and the family has a finished house to live in thanks be to God!

School = Labs

Some people may say that having class only three days a week is a light schedule and I might agree...if I didn't have THREE labs! My goodness. Life is good in the bu. I am loving my apartment and living with my roommates. My eight minute ocean view drive is not what I think of as commuting. Life at Pepperdine is getting back into the swing of things. We are having major revamp construction at school so it looks horrible! At least we still have our ocean view. Today in honor of September 11th, there were three thousand flags on our hill. It looked SO cool!

Other than school I have been enjoying my outside activities. The beach is always a wonderful choice. Zuma is only three minutes away! University Ministries through Malibu Pres has been an awesome way not only to catch up with old friends, but also a wonderful way to worship God with all my peers. I joined in the UM's women's Bible study this week so we'll see how that works. My most favorite part of coming back to school is seeing everyone! London people, Sports Med people, and all my other friends in between.

My exercise physiology has been so incredibly interesting. I love it. We even get extra-credit for exercising three times a week. My other two classes are pretty dull, physics and biostatistics, but hopefully they'll get a little more fascinating. Three lab reports a week take up much of my study time, but they're a lot better than writing papers. That's all for now, I hope everyone is having a fantastic week!