Updates: Part 2

Hello there,  Readers!

Thanks for coming back to read more about those updates!

Last week, we left off at the end of the summer. Since it's now almost the end of the semester, I'll catch you up on school (Late August to Now).

First of all, I moved to LA and started school at Biola right at the end ofAugust. September began, and so did all my classes. Currently, I'm in Experimental Psychology, Psych & Christian Thought, Foundations of Christian Thought, Psych Statistics Lab, Biblical Interpretation&Spiritual Formation, and New Testament History and Literature. Phew, that's a mouthful. There isn't a whole lot to say about my classes that's really exciting, but I have made some awesome friends. I didn't have a roommate when I first got here, but I asked a girl I had met if she wanted to be my roommate and now she's one of my best friends! I also made friends with a girl in my Foundations class who's also a psych major and this girl who added everyone as a friend on Facebook over the summer.

September didn't have a whole lot going on, except for my birthday toward the beginning. Kosmos is seriously awesome and took a bus to come see me. We went to our friend's place in North Ridge and stayed there for the weekend. I was definitely sad when the weekend ended and Kosmos had to leave, but it was by far one of the best birthdays I've had so far in my life.

When October finally came around, there was a lot going on. Toward the middle of the month, Biola's annual Torrey Conference began. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it so much. The first day of Torrey, they held it on the lawn. But things got a little crazy. To give you some background, apparently, one of the on campus ministries had been sent a message by God through prayer that the lawn would be revitalized. Then, this year, one of the various ministry groups here began holding their meetings on the lawn. But then Torrey was held there too! But here's where it gets really crazy. That night, we were worshiping and the worship leader was in the middle of prayer. We had just finished singing "How He Loves" (If you're unfamiliar with the title, just think "Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree") and "Spirit Break Out" ("Can you hear the sound of heaven touching earth"). All of a sudden, there's a flash of light. I think a lot of people were confused and thought maybe it was a photographer since they had been taking pictures earlier, but then BOOM! Thunder. The worship leader had barely said Jesus' name when that happened. Everyone cheered. The worship leader tried to continue her prayer and repeated Jesus' name. More lighting and thunder. More cheers. One more time she tried, she said Jesus' name and all of a sudden lighting struck right on top of us. It honestly looked light it hit right next to the stage. Then she asked Jesus to cover us with his love and grace. Then out of no where, these HUGE drops of rain started falling. It barely started when all of a sudden, it was pouring on top of us. Everyone ran for cover and a good portion of people ran back to the dorms. I think I can safely say, based on the Facebook and Instagram posts that followed, that we all heard "the sound of heaven touching earth". It was incredible. I don't know about anyone else that night, but for me the message was loud and clear, "I AM here."

One of the girls on my floor captured that video of the lighting that seemed to strike near the stage. The rest of Torrey was great, but this was the highlight.

Reaching the end of October, Halloween weekend came, and I had the chance to go home! I was more than a little excited. I went home for my little brother's birthday, but while I was there, I of course got to see Kosmos. Actually, he was there with my family basically every night except K's birthday and he picked me up from the airport. Needless to say, I very much enjoyed my time home.

Which brings me to November. Since being home, I have been absolutely swamped with papers and tests. Actually, I need to go finish one now. But, by the time you read this, I'll be done and ready for Thanksgiving to start. Hooray! And boy, will I have an post following Thanksgiving weekend. But I can't say anything today about it. Exciting things happening! Tune back in next week for more!

With Love,
PolarBearMoose <3

Updates: Part 1

Hey Readers!

It has been an awfully long time since I have made a detailed post on this blog. I am deeply sorry about that because I have had a few things that I could have been more active in blogging about even though I updated Instagram. So lets start with some updates, shall we?

First of all, I graduated from Community College Cum Laude with my Associate's Degree in June. And I finished my IGETC for transferring. Woot! Of course, nothing is ever easy when you want it to be, so of course there were/are some bumps. I had to go in to get my Associate's degree, even though I was told in June it would be mailed to me. And of course, something wasn't properly filled out on my IGETC, so I have to get that resent. When I went in to the Registrar's office, the woman working at the counter responded to my claim of needing the IGETC resent with, "Oh they've been doing this for a long time, they wouldn't mess up." To which, I had to hold my tongue. Honestly, time does not mean that you don't make mistakes every once in a while. So now I need to call the office to get it fixed since I'm not close enough to take care of it in person. I'm not happy about that. But I know it's done. I just need to get it fixed.

Second! I went to Alaska on a cruise in July for my step-dad's 50th and my step-brother's 21st. Before I get into this, you should be informed that I get horribly sea-sick. So, here we are at sea, and I am the only one who can feel the boat (sorry, ship) rocking. Did I mention I get sea-sick? After the first day at sea, I'm already nauseated. But I didn't think it would get too much worse. Wrong. We make it to our first stop, Ketchikan, and the tour that my step-brother and I were meant to go on had been cancelled due to fog I believe. Ketchikan is small, and there's not a lot to do at port, so going on a tour was really our only option besides browsing a gift shop that we didn't have money for. Alistair decided to go on a quick hike and I decided to go back on the ship (it can't rock too much at port, so at least that was alright), but I did stay on land in the rain for a while before I did go back. The day ended, and we went back to sea.
The next stop was Juneau. This one was a lot more exciting. Even though I don't like boats, I went on a whale watching tour. This part was seriously cool because we were able to see the whales (humpbacks) bubble-net feeding. From what I understood, basically, the whales dive down and herd the fish to one spot. Then they all dive down and form a circle around the fish and start blowing bubbles while narrowing their circle until they get to the top and catch as many fish in their mouths as they can. The bubbles form a net because the fish are too stupid to swim out of the bubble net. I'm glad I brought my camera, but I wish I had been able to capture some better pictures. These guys move fast!

Our next stop on the trip was Skagway, which apparently was a gold mining town. If you've ever been around the Sutter's Mill area where they preserve history by basically not updating any building to make it more appealing for tourists, then you know about what Skagway looks like, except with less trees around the town itself. And there's a train. The cool part about this was that we got to ride the train and see a lot of different things. The bad part was that the guide decided to talk over the main guide person on loudspeaker so you couldn't actually hear any of the things about the railway history. And she didn't know the history very well, so she'd say things like, "Oh I think this, this and this, but the conductors can tell you more!" While talking over the conductor. One really cool part thing that also happened in Skagway was we got to meet a dog sledding team (the dogs and the trainer) and we got to see a little of how they train and how the racer prepares. He was really passionate about it and he definitely had things planned out well of what he wanted to talk about. And the best part: we got to hold some of the puppies. If I weren't allergic, I'd be all over getting a dog this cute.

Then, we were supposed to go around the fjord, but something happened with the sewage where it didn't get emptied and we couldn't actually go see it. Xander and my mom were pissed. So instead of going around the fjord, we stopped in Sitka. See, I actually really enjoyed Sitka, and I honestly wish we'd had more time there. It was pretty cool. My grandma, my step-brother, and I were the only ones to get off at this point, so we just enjoyed walking around the historical path way. Alistair and I decided to have some fun with the things around the trail. My favorite one though, is this one:

There's a lot of history about Sitka, and if you ever have the chance, I highly recommend going. We actually ended up hijacking part of tour and learned a lot about the St. Michael's Cathedral. Again, a lot of history and I highly recommend looking it up or visiting if/when you have the chance. But our time in Sitka did have to end, and so we returned to the boat, somewhat satisfied with our adventure. 

Then the terror of the long days at sea began. The boat actually got rocky enough that my family could actually feel it. Since I felt the rocking since the beginning, you might be able to guess that this is when I got really really sick. It was bad enough that they gave me nausea pills. And with these motion sickness pills, what happens is that you're awake long enough to eat, which is good because you take one of these pills and breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And after you eat/take the pill, you have maybe an hour before you sleep. So basically, for the rest of the days that we spent at sea, I was asleep. 

Finally, we stopped in Victoria, BC. We were able to see the Butterfly Gardens and Butchart Gardens. These places were absolutely spectacular. I mean beautiful. I wish they allowed wedding photos to be taken at these places or something because it was wonderful. It was also way hotter than the rest of our trip. I mean, sun shining, not a cloud to be seen. I honestly don't think I could describe this stop accurately enough to give you a good picture. It's another one of those places that if you ever have the chance, you should definitely go check out. 

And finally, we were ended up back home. Phew. As much as I loved the sight-seeing, never again. I hate boats. 

Kosmos' birthday is in July, but I had been away during that time, so we celebrated when I got back. I gave him a cool necklace and a treasure chest that I painted to look like a Kingdom Heart's chest. And that pretty much sums up July.

On to August! First of all, I quit my job so that my last day was right before we celebrated my mom's birthday by going to Bennihana's. She had a nice birthday so that was awesome. 

Then, Kosmos and I celebrated our one year anniversary! We planned out a trip to Disneyland a few months prior and spent a week in Anaheim. We agreed that if we do it again (and we definitely will), we want to have more time and a bigger budget for food. It was Kosmos' first time there and his favorite part by far was the food. On our actual anniversary day, he slept in a bit while I ran to the park to get beignets and mint juleps to bring back to the hotel. He was very pleasantly surprised when he woke up to the food. He had the beignets the first day in the parks and insisted we have them as much as possible every other day, so I was sure to get extra for us. It was definitely the best way I could think of to end the summer with. 

Kosmos tearing up after having his first mint Julep and beignet

His first time on space mountain. He liked it.

Playing with his bubble gun. Like a kid at Christmas

Anniversary Dinner at the Blue Bayou with Fantastmic tickets

New hats for both of us!

But unfortunately all things must come to an end and we did have to go back after our week was over. And then it was time for me to prepare to move to Biola.  

And with that dear readers, I will end my first set of updates. If you want to read more about what I've been up to, check in next week (I have a post written and scheduled, so it will definitely be there!)

I have more to tell, but you'll just have to wait!

With Love,

PolarBearMoose <3