Celebrating Good People.

Well, I already forgot that I had created this. I was looking at some friends' blogs about their travels and lives, and remembered that I had one, too. I think for now I'm going to use it mostly as an update spot, and a place to share some photos.

So, I'm going to start out by posting about my adventures over Labor Day weekend. It was pretty packed - I went to an Angels game, did some work for a church, drove down to Carlsbad for Amy Lynch's sweet birthday dinner, and then up to the Vidlock's house on the Delta to celebrate Whitney's birthday. Lots of fun things with great friends.

Friday night was the Angels game for Biola's new students and their orientation leaders. I honestly can't even tell you who won, because I was so preoccupied chatting with people I didn't know very well yet, and having a great time being surrounded by Biola students. I learned a lot about some of my students, and some of them got to learn a little bit about me. Somehow in the midst of a cheering crowd and cracking bats, I had a deep conversation with a good friend about feeling judged while trying to serve people in love. Long story short, it was a great night. It always turns out to be my favorite SOS (Student Orientation Services) event.

This is my SOS group eating dinner with me :).


Angel Stadium!

Saturday morning was our designated "SOS Serve Day". We got up early and lead some worship in Calvary Chapel before splitting everyone into big groups to set out for some churches and organizations close by. I was put in charge of a group to go to Whittier Hills Baptist Church down the road. Many of our cars got lost, some stopped for donuts, but eventually we all got there and found ourselves slapping on name tags. We came prepared to get down and dirty with whatever we were told to do, but instead we were completely blessed by the pastors and staff members there, who began the day by giving us wisdom and praying over us. What an amazing community I get to live in during this chapter of my life. Anyway, we did some labor - washing windows, cleaning children's classrooms, scraping gum off the ground, picking weeds and turning up fresh soil. It was a good day, and I feel like we got a lot done for WHBC. At the end of the day Dr. Ken Burding, one of Biola's theology professors, spoke to us about getting involved in a church community. We were prayed over again, and everyone split to head back to campus. A small group of us went to Chipotle for lunch, and I was treated by my sweet friend David. We got back to Biola, I rushed home, grabbed my things, and headed to Carlsbad.

On my way down there I got stuck in some traffic, which was more frustrating than usual for some reason, but eventually got there. I got to hang out with some of my very favorite people for awhile, and then we headed down to this sweet little outdoor patio for Amy Lynch's 21st birthday dinner. Stacey and Amy started setting up all these really cute martini/margarita glasses with nametags on them, and I snapped away. It was a really wonderful night - great food, even better people. After dinner we headed inside to sit together enjoying cookies and milk, and taking turns affirming Amy. It was one of the coolest things I've gotten to be a part of. The things that everyone had to say about this girl were such a testament to who she is and what an amazing girl God has created her to be. She is so loved. I can't even begin to imagine what my life would be like without her. So really, that time of focus on Amy was a huge blessing to me - it made me realize how thankful I am for the people in my life, especially her.

After stalling for as long as we could, Chad and I had to say farewell to our good friends in Carlsbad and headed in the car for another drive. This time it was about 7 hours!! We headed up the 5 to Malibu, and swung by Pepperdine. My sweet little sister jumped on the bandwagon and we pushed along through the night until we finally got to the Vidlock's house on the Sacramento Delta around 6am. Boy were we tired!! We stumbled inside, followed the cute signs Whitney had put up inside, parted ways with Chad, and crashed on the floor. I think I could have slept hard anywhere that night! After not enough hours, we woke up and got ready to go out on the water. It was really fun to be around the Vidlocks again - I just love that family! And it felt really good to be in a boat out on the water. It's one of those places in life where I just feel "at home". So, we spent the morning cruising around - wakeboarding, surfing, skiing. It was wonderful. Then we headed back to the house for lunch and hung out there for awhile, just relaxing and enjoying being all together. We went back out on the water in a paddle-boat, a kayak, some tubes and some rafts. That was an adventure. Chad, Peter & I almost sank a paddle-boat somehow! It was hilarious. And quite challenging! But we made it back to the dock just in time. After that little mishap, we decided to load the boat back up and go out on the tubes... which definitely provided for some great entertainment! The last duo of the evening was Zac and Chad, each on their own tube, both doing ridiculous things on purpose. Chad fell off so many times of his own accord, the boat probably didn't even need to be moving! Anyway, after a long day and then a good dinner, we settled in to watch Minority Report (which is really kind of a disturbing movie if you don't keep your eyes open - or even if you do actually!). Some of us made it through; some of us didn't. We crashed once again, got up early the next morning, and headed out.

There are grapes in Whit's hand!

Self-explanatory: Zac's awesome.

Sunday Whitney, Chad, Brittany & I headed back down to Pepperdine to drop Britt off. We walked her across campus and got to see her dorm & meet one of her fun suitemates. Between being sore from the weekend and hiking across that ridiculous campus, we were pretty beat. But it was fun. I'm so glad Britt came up with us; it was so fun to have her around, and really cool to see how well she just fits in with all of my girls. Sometimes I would forget she was there, because I never felt like I had to be checking up on her or sitting by her all the time or anything like that. She was just part of the group as much as any of us. And that was awesome. I wish she lived a little closer, but at least she's in the same state as me now! All in all, it was a great weekend. Exhausting, and a little ridiculous, but great just the same.

So, there was the end of my August and beginning of my September! The next two weekends were almost as jam-packed, and I'm expecting the coming one to be as well, so I'll have to get going on writing about them before I get lost. For now, I'm going to flip a few pages in my planner and finish up what I have to get done by tomorrow.

It's really great to have good people in your life. And how blessed are we when we get to celebrate them?? I sure was this Labor Day weekend!

--Erica.