All In One Weekend

Since returning to California, I have had the most consecutively crazy busy weekends I think I've had in my whole life. The past two have been no exception! I'll begin where I left off, with that first week of September. I love September, by the way. I think it's mostly because of the weather. It starts out feeling like summer, with warm sunny days and jumping in pools or the ocean, and it gradually cools down and turns into that perfect weather where you can where almost anything in your closet and be comfortable. It's a great month. A great transitional time. I also really love October. And September leads up to that. In any case, I'm thankful that it's September.

Thursday I got up early and drove down to Santa Ana to visit the Transparent Productions office. I hadn't been there in a really long time, and I didn't tell Jared or Denny that I was coming in, so it was really fun to see the surprise on their faces when I walked in! I got to chat with the two of them and Tim for quite awhile, catching up and teasing each other. It was so great. It made me miss working there, to be honest. But no time right now! In any case, I'm glad to still have them in my life. They're good people. That night we had our first "Family Dinner", and our sweet and wonderful friend Joel Sappington came over to join us, as well as Chad and Megan Keating. It was so fun to have them here! We had dinner, played games, caught up... it was great. Megan spent the night that night, which is always fun, because we love her! It was a pretty wonderful close to the first week of September.

Friday was a school-wide AS event - the city of La Mirada spent lots of money tearing down half of a park to build a waterpark across the street from Biola last year. So we put it to good use and rented it out for the student body! It was $3 to get in, plus free Chipotle for dinner. It was a win-win situation, really. So Cassi and I headed over in our Biola-approved one-piece swimsuits and checked it out. It was actually really fun! We spent almost the entire time we were there in the lazy river with ridiculous life jackets on, floating around and playing with other people we ran into. We ended up being really cold after sitting in there for so long, so we decided to brave the hot tub, even though when we had walked by it earlier there was standing room only and about 40 people crammed inside. But by this time in the night it had cleared out a little, so there was even room for us to sit together. That was very relaxing and I was just about ready to suggest we go home when Cass decided it was time to hit the water slides. By this time it had cooled down outside, and the water in the pools and slides felt a lot colder than it had earlier. However, just for her, I braved the cold and we went down the slides. It was fun, but actually kind of painful! You know how those things are kind of pieced together so that they can turn corners and things? So there are ridges where these pieces fit together. They don't feel so great on a bony spine as you're scraping along with impressive speed. Nonetheless, I'm glad she forced me to go. We grabbed our towels and jumped into her car, turning on the seat heaters for the first time. Our friend Daniel's friends accidentally left without him, so he caught a ride with us. As soon as we got back to our apartment, I jumped in the shower to warm up, grabbed my things (yes, another weekend of "grabbing my things") and headed to Hope, where I picked up Joey and Brittany. The three of us drove through Del Taco (Joey's treat), and took the quick drive over to Rancho Cucamunga for the SOS Debrief Retreat at the Perez household.

We spent the night and first three hours of the morning playing "live-action" or "cut-throat" Mafia - an intense game of murders and townspeople wandering and sneaking throughout a pitch-black house. It was scary! And really fun. I got to be the Mafia for two games in a row, so I got to "kill" a few people and pathetically try to defend myself in discussion whenever the finger got pointed in my direction. It was all very thrilling and definitely entertaining. Much better than the original version, where you sit around in a circle. Anyway, after playing until 3:30am, Matt (our stand-in Dad) finally put his foot down and told us we had to go to bed. So we took turns brushing our teeth (the 30 of us) and so on, and found ourselves places to sleep - girls upstairs and in a 5th wheel in the driveway, and boys downstairs. I was part of the 5th wheel crew, so I headed outside and tried to help arrange us to fit the best we could. We finally got settled in time for the boys to begin playing pranks on us, somehow managing to legitimately freak us out even though in the back of our heads we knew it was them. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night, but it was definitely a fun one!

We woke up way too early the next morning for breakfast, stumbling around the house wondering why we stayed up so late. More people began to arrive (those who didn't spend the night), and eventually we headed to a park to do some journaling and reflection. It was a good time to have set aside, because I probably wouldn't have done it without that and it was needed. Then we had some time with our prayer partners, which turned out to be such a huge blessing for me. My partner, Katie, is a sophomore girl who has been through a lot of really difficult stuff in her life, and the change I've gotten to see in her just over the past month is remarkable. God is doing some really amazing work on her heart, and getting to be a part of seeing that take place has been such a learning experience for me and a total blessing. So, needless to say, that time was good, too. We headed back to the house (making a stop at Starbucks "on the way" for Miss Brittany), and half started up a latino dance party (we were at the Perez's after all) while the other half jumped in the pool. After as much stalling as I could stand, I finally gathered my stuff up and sadly left the party early.

I got back into my car and headed towards Knotts Berry Farm to meet up with the Open Door Fellowship youth group. After frustrating LA traffic, I finally arrived and met up with Jason Ellis to get my ticket. It took us awhile to connect back up with the group (who had just gone on the rapids water ride and were relatively soaked), but we finally found them and headed for the classic wooden rollercoaster - the Ghost Rider. I think it's actually the oldest wooden one in the country! It was crazy. That's just the best word for it. It was painful and jarring and somehow thrilling and fun at the same time. During the month of October, Knotts closes during the late afternoon and then re-opens at night as "Knotts Scary Farm". Apparently it's pretty scary - they go all out with decorating the park and seasonally hire people to be monsters... doesn't really sound like my cup of tea! But my point in mentioning it is that during this festivity, they put the Ghost Rider rollercoaster train on the tracks backwards. I can't imagine doing that mess of a ride without even seeing where I was going!

After going on one more ride and doing a little line dancing, the youth group left to head up towards Azusa Pacific University, where they were staying the night. Chad and I stayed to go on one more ride, since I hadn't been there for very long. We chose a good one! I can't remember what it's called off the top of my head, but it's the kind where your feet dangle. I love those kind!! So that was fun, I'm glad we stayed a little bit longer. Then we dropped my car off at my apartment and also headed our way up to Azusa. I'm sure we ate dinner at some point, but I don't remember! I think we grabbed something at my place. Anyway, we got up there just in time to go outside and do some worship with the kids (Michael played with them, that was cool). Then Chad and Caleb got the chance to speak to them about what they had wished they were told or emphasized in high school. It was really cool to get to see them sit there together sharing wisdom with kids who have watched them grow up in the youth group before them. We must be growing up or something.

After the guys shared we sang some more worship, and at that point I'm surprised any of those kids were still awake - they had driven straight through the night before! They all headed up to the gym to finally sleep, and Chad, Caleb, Kali & I headed to their apartment. We hung out and chatted for a bit while Caleb wrestled with my air mattress, and eventually Chad headed downstairs to the couch and I settled in upstairs on a very comfortably inflated mattress. The boys woke up really early - I'm not even sure when because I didn't fully wake up while they were banging around making coffee and stuff right next to my head - and picked up Jason & David Pinkerton to get donuts and stuff for breakfast. Kali and I got up a little while later and met them at APU. Then we jumped in the group picture and waved the kids off as they climbed on the bus to hit the beach for the morning before heading home. Then, after realizing that Kali & I had locked her keys in her car along with our purses, we walked over to the swapmeet (swapmeat? I don't know what it is... flea market? Is that the same thing?) that's at Citrus College every Sunday morning. It was so fun!! I love those things. They remind me of my grandma. We used to go to those with her all the time; she was so fun. So we perused the entire parking lot full of odds and ends (it's a good thing I didn't have my wallet!) and ended at Caleb & Kali's regular taco stand where we got some pretty incredible authentic Mexican tacos. They were delicious, even at 10 in the morning! On our way back to the cars we stopped by Caleb's friend Aaron's apartment and hung out there for a few minutes. A few guys Caleb used to run with on the APU track team live there together, really nice guys. Eventually we all crammed ourselves into Chad's truck and went back to the Lynch's apartment. They boys hopped on some of Caleb's sweet bikes and rode back to get Kali's car with the spare key. Kali and I just relaxed and watched Friends together. I have so much fun with her, even if we're doing nothing! The boys got back, we made a uniquely great lunch (corn, cheese, rice, sour cream and hot sauce), kicked back for awhile discussing good books and enjoying friendship. Finally it came time for Chad and I to head back to La Mirada, so we gathered our things together and said farewell. It was so great spending time with people we really truly enjoy. Caleb & Kali are the kind of people we just "click" with. I really hope we can spend more time with them this year.

Sunday was Danny Sanchez's birthday, so Chad dropped me off at the YCRD (yellow cottage red door) where they were having a little shin-dig for him. Awhile later Chad came and hung out, which was really cool for me to have him be there and have it be so normal for him to be integrated into my friends. Anyway, we all hung out there for a few hours celebrating Danny and just chatting it up. Then Chad dropped me off at my apartment and I finally got to go to bed after an action-packed weekend. And now I think that's what I'm going to do - go to bed. It was jacuuuuzzi Tuuuuesday tonight; we're going to make that a weekly thing. I think it's the only consistent time during the week that all 9 of us girls and the 3 boys from the house are all available to be together, even if it's only for an hour. And Jared Gibo drove up to come tonight, too! Second week in a row. Maybe he'll make it a weekly thing, too. That would be fun :). I have such wonderful friends! I am so so thankful for them!!!

Goodnight,
Erica