As promised...

I mentioned before about my friend Sarah (AKA Smiller) coming to visit LA and I would put some pictures on from that weekend...well, here there are as promised. See how much fun we can have Smiller...don't you want to move back? :-)



Sarah, Karisse and me...We stopped at the tree lot to visit Karisse (who was working there) after church.


A California Must...there's just something about In-N-Out. For all of those non-Cali people, this restaurant has pretty much has the best fast food hamburgers (in my humble opinion)...


Ode to the home states...I was wearing a Minnesota t-shirt, paying homage to my dear friend, Smiller, and while we were shopping, she found one that had Florida on it.

Traditions

Merry Christmas! I hope that you all had a blessed day and enjoy the time you have with family and friends. I am sure there are traditions that you have for Christmas time, whether it's going to someone's house or how you exchange gifts. Whatever it may be, those traditions seem to bring comfort, knowing that things are the way they always have been. It gives a sense of steadiness in your life even when things around you are always changing.

My family has a few traditions that I know will never falter, like getting to open one gift on Christmas Eve, and knowing that the gift will ALWAYS be a set of pajamas. There is really no surprise about it and that's OK by me. Just as long as I get my pajamas.

In the past few years, we've added something new to our Christmas "festivities"...we have had Christmas morning in a hotel room. I know that sounds kinda strange and maybe not exactly ideal, but in all reality, it's not that bad. It usually means that we are having Christmas at someone's house that has so many people over that there isn't room there for our whole family to sleep (at least comfortably). And I figure if you have to stay in a hotel room for Christmas morning, it's not difficult to stay in a room like this one.

There was a regular sized room with the beds in it and then through the connecting door, there was a living room, dining room and kitchen. In total, the living space was as big as 3 hotels room side to side. And the bathroom definitely deserves mention as well...the tub was HUGE! I don't know the diminsions of it exactly, but the picture gives you a bit of a clue.

Sister Fun Day

Each time I come back to Jacksonville to visit my family (usually twice a year), Maurine and I spend the day together, doing various things and just enjoying each other's company. The highlights of the day were going bowling and making pumpkin bread.

















I'd like to say this was a strike, but I will admit I am not the best of bowlers. I didn't do to shabby...









...but it helps when your competition is only 7 years old :-)

Most kids want to go to places like Chuck E Cheese's for their birthday. Not my little sister who turned 7 years old yesterday. Her tastes seem to be a bit more expensive, as she choose to go to Red Lobster to have crab legs for her birthday dinner. And here you can see her diligently working on cracking those crab legs. I can hardly believe she is 7 now...she's grown up so fast. Sniff sniff.


Here's me, Maurine and my older sister, Andrea

The count down has begun (in hours)

I am leaving for Florida in roughly 33 hours and 20 minutes (ok, so it's not really "roughly" but more "exactly"). I am looking forward to being home for almost 3 weeks, to get to spend time with my family for Christmas (and some time before and after as well!)

O Christmas Tree

When you go out to buy your Christmas tree this year, you can now put a more familiar face to your wonderful person that helps you sort through trees and pick out the perfect one for your family. You can picture me...

Every December, our YWAM base sells Christmas trees at a local lot, and the staff are the ones who work out there. I was on the schedule a couple days ago and my poor unconditioned muscles are still reminding that I am glad that we only sell these trees once a year. These trees are not light by any means, but you get kinda used to it after lifting 50 trees. We put bowls and stands on them as well, so I am now an expert at using a chainsaw. I can cut one straight stem if I do say so myself. We were out there from 8 am until 10 pm and sold 365 trees in the one day!

The nights get awfully chilly...well, down right cold if you ask me...so we have to be sure to bundle up. So I went out to the thrift store to buy a warm jacket that I don't mind getting messy. I found this huge orange puffy jacket that just made me laugh looking at and I look utterly ridiculous in it, but it kept me warm. The jacket was dubbed two different nicknames (not exactly the most creative, but very descriptive): 1-Orange Marshmellow Peep Jacket and 2-The Michelin Man Jacket.

There is a picture of me standing next to one of the trees that I put together and delivered to the house. It's a 6 1/2 foot Noble Fir, which are my favorites...


(for some reason...
probably my ignorance...
i can't get this picture to
post right side up, so
please bear with me and
tilt your head to the side
to see it better...thanks...)

Blast from the past!

So this past weekend, my good friend Sarah, more affectionately known as Smiller, came to visit LA for a few days. She and I did our DTS together, traipsed around South Africa together, and for two years were support for each while on staff here at the YWAM base. We did a lot of firsts while we were here together, like cooking our first turkey for Thanksgiving last year (only to find out after we were done that it was only a turkey breast instead of the whole turkey). We learned how to drive a stick shift car (which provided me with some of the most side splitting times of laughter that I can remember ever in my life). She moved back home to Minnesota at the middle of the summer and the place just hasn't been the same without her. It was such a good time of catching up, getting to talk in person and just hanging out together. I will have pictures coming soon! I miss you Smiller!

Deck the Halls...

This is Amy, another staff member, and one of the most amazing students, Susie.











Me with some of my favorite neighbors, Pete and Kizzy.




















This is me between two lovely ladies...Brooke on the left and Karisse (a fellow Floridian and Flagler alum) on the right.










Two of my housemates, Jodi (l) and Alicia (r)




It's not very often that we get to dress up around here, but every December, we have a base Christmas party and so last Friday night, we all got to pull out the sorta fancy clothes and had a good time.

The leadership team serves all the staff and guests, which is nice because you can just find your seat and then relax and have someone wait on you. A nice treat. And we always have a talent show with various people, some with amazing skills and others that just make you laugh.

Our table found a lot of joy in pelting things at each other, all in good fun of course. it started out innocently enough, with candy wrappers and such. But it quickly progressed into candy still in the wrappers (not exactly fun if you get hit in the head). At one point, I even enlisted the help of a 2 year old to walk up to his dad and throw a roll at him. Of course the father then turned his son around and had him toss it back at me. Oh, the fun of getting a kid to do your dirty work!

All in all, it was a good night...lots of laughs and time spent picking up our mess afterward!

Chef, I am not...

Happy Thanksgiving to all! I hope that you had a great time with family and friends!

This was my third Thanksgiving away from my family and each year seems to bring new things for me to add into my traditions, and a few to leave out as well. The first year, I went down to San Diego to spend the holiday with a few friends. Last year, my friend Sarah and I made dinner ourselves (a first for both of us). We actually did pretty well. The turkey came out great and neither one of us got food poisoning.

This year, I had dinner with a few friends here in LA. I made a valiant effort in cooking today...I got the great idea to make homemade noodles...one of my favorite things to eat. Well, they were not bad by any means, but they just weren't the same as Grandma's. They turned out more like dumplings than noodles. Good thing I like dumplings too! I also made some pretty tasty pumpkin bread. Look at me...turning domestic! Who would have thought! I can almost hear the laughs of a few friends...

ANd then tonight, I sat next to a fire for a few hours talking to friends. I think I have said it before but that is probably one of my most favorite things...just sitting around, having good conversation and enjoying the company.

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Food for Thought

"It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men."

C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms

I'm one happy girl!

Today has been one of those days where I have been given reason to smile over and over again. Let me explain...It started off with an extra hour of sleep because of the time change. Can't go wrong there. And then after church today, one of the greatest things happened. One of the guys from church asked me if I had a minute and then we walked out to his car and he gave me a computer! Yes, you read that correctly...someone gave me a computer! A Mac PowerBook G4, to be exact. For those of you that don't know that from any other computer, suffice it to say it's a wonderful little computer. It is actually what I am typing this entry on right now. I was like on a huge high all the way home, amazed at his generousity and at the provision of God. This guy, James, just recently moved in with someone and they had a new computer so he didn't need his personal one anymore and felt like God told him to give it away. And he obeyed, for which I am forever grateful!

The afternoon wasn't quite as exhilerating as getting a huge gift like that, but I did get to spend the day with my amazing Norwegian friend, Elin, and my roommate, Ila. We did a little shopping and just having fun hanging out. And while in one of the stores, this random person gave me a totally unexpected compliment! One of those that takes a few minutes to sink in because it seems easier to believe that it's a joke. But it wasn't and it helped make this day so incredible! And a good way to start off the week!

Finally!

A little more than 6 years ago, Maurine came to live with my family. My parents couldn't believe that they were starting over again with a new baby when they already had 2 kids in college, but indeed, that is what God asked of them. And today, she is officially a Ronhovde! The adoption proceedings finished this morning after my parents and Maurine met with the judge. She called me and said, "I just got adopted!" It has been a long awaited day and a very exciting and joyous day.

Above is a picture of her modeling hats in a store. She is one of the best kids I know. Sure, she can be a bit onery and spoiled sometimes if you ask me :-) , but I love her so much!




This is her and I at a museum in April. Every time I go home to Florida to visit, we have a "Sister Fun Day" where we just spend time together and do something different and fun.






Here we are lounging on the grass outside at Christmastime (ah, the great weather we have in Florida in December!)




I could fill this blog with pictures of her, but I shall stop for now...

Life's lessons

I can't say that I have enough exciting stuff going on in my life to write on this blog THAT often, but I figure an update every once in a while would be good (huh karisse?).

This is a picture of my Grandma Anderson and I in Indiana this past week. I have had the chance to spend a lot of unplanned time with her in the last few weeks. I think I have racked up somewhere between 8000 to 10,000 frequent flyer miles in the last 3 weeks. I flew to indiana to take care of my Aunt Karen (my mom's sister) who had cancer, helping her in whatever way necessary. I will admit it was probably the most difficult thing I have done in my life...to watch someone that you love wither away. But God never ceases to amaze me. It was during that week that God showed me new things about Himself, about my aunt and about myself as well. He revealed a couple things to me thatI will continually pass on as lessons learned.

One of the lessons that stands out is this: during the days that I was sitting with my aunt, I offered to read her passages from the Psalms. As I was reading, I would hesitate because so many times, David would cry out to God to save him from death, to show mercy. And God did. God delivered David...He saved his life and allowed him to life many more years. I cringed everytime I read a passage like that because I knew, barring a miracle, things were not looking good for her. I decided that I would read ahead and avoid reading those chapters, but God stopped me and told me that all He had done for David, he has done for Aunt Karen as well. He did show her grace and mercy and gave her life...ETERNAL life. Our minds focus a lot on this world, on these bodies. But it says in the Bible that God put eternity in the hearts of men, that we long for home in heaven, looking forward to being face to face with Jesus. That is our goal, our prize, that is our life's longing. My aunt lived her life as an offering to God, as a light to those around, seeking to bring God glory through good times and bad. And it was because of this relationship she had with God that she was such an example of unconditional love.

And I got the chance to see people come by and tell her how much she meant to them throughout that week. It seemed like the house always had at least one extra person in it, having a heart to heart with her, thanking her for the influence she had in their lives, and the love she showed to them.

Karen Ann Anderson Schoff passed away on October 1, 2005. I count myself blessed to have known her, to have been impacted by her love, to have called her my aunt.

Meet Hamilton

I have to admit, I am definitely not the best blogger in the world! I am going to try my best to get better at updating this thing a lot more often (thanks to the groanings from my friends who want to read more but never anything new to read).

I thought I would introduce everyone to my fish, Hamilton. And yes, he is in a blender. I can't really remember how and why this idea came about, but i thought it owuld be really funny to put a fish in a blender rather than the typical bowl or tank. I rigged the bottom with caulk so it wouldn't leak. Don't worry, the blender is broken so there is no threat of it ever getting used again! And I named him Hamilton after the appliance brand. Bordering on cheeseball, I know...sometimes I just can't seem to help it...it just happens...what can I say?

The first 2 years living in LA, I learned a great lesson in being humble enough to bum rides off of people but not being pushy in asking. Now, I am happy to say that I have my own transportation. 2500 miles after leaving my parents house in Florida, I finally made it! I can't say I enjoy standing at the gas pump, watching the counter go up very rapidly (gas is $2.79 a gallon out here right now), but I have to say life feels different having a car. I just have to be wise about how much I actually drive.

At the same time that I am tyring to watch gas usage, I am getting involved with a local church in Hollywood. It's amazing to see the things that God is doing in this small, brand new church and that i get to be a part of it right from the beginning. Each week there is a group that meets at a coffee house to discuss random, but very relevant, topics. This last week was the first time that I went and it was a great experience. The discussion was on success and how we view it in our culture, and even as Christians. What defines our success and how do we go about acheiving it? It morphed into so much more than just about that and when everyone was ready to leave, I could hardly believe that it had been 2 1/2 hours! I know it may sound cheesey and a bit "cliche-ish" to say this, but afterwards, I felt alive. I felt energized to be sitting with new friends, discussing big ideas and how we view the world and how we view God. I must say that I wish there were more than one meeting a week, but I know that isn't really possible.

It goes to show me that I seem to thrive when I can be engaged in meaningful conversation. The kind of talks that challenge me and probe me to think more and contemplate what it is that I believe and why I view it that way. And then to be able to bounce those off of other people, to hear their perspective. To build solid relationships. Definitely one of my favorite pasttimes.

Trying to keep up...

My friend, Karisse, has been telling me about her blog site for months now and so in the last few minutes, she convinced me it was time to start one of my own. This will hopefully serves as a place that I can keep all of you updated on the comings and goings of life as I know it.