a lost art

Tonight our friend Kawika (Chuck's former roommate) threw a very typical Kawika-type party, which are always amazing. Kawika is from Hawaii, loves surfing, being barefoot, is always super laid-back and relaxed, and enjoys nothing as much as he loves conversation with friends. He is extremely reflective and thoughtful, and asks incredibly thought-provoking questions. Kawika is someone I have been inspired by in many ways (and I know Chuck has been too, living with Kawika was a great thing for him I think). He has thrown several gatherings where he invites people to come to a community room in his apartment complex and bring something to share--a story, a poem, a song, a dance, a joke, absolutely anything goes. He loves creativity (his motto is "kill perfectionism so creativity can live!") and loves sharing this aspect of life with his friends. His gatherings are always amazing, they vary in size but everyone leaves having experienced a little bit of life in a deeper way. This evening his theme was "reclaiming storytelling," and people were encouraged to bring a story--one they made up, a family story of something ridiculous happening, a story they wanted to read etc and share it with the group. We heard some wonderful tales--some hysterical (a family motorcycle/camping trip gone bad!), some kind of scary (a guy who lived in a haunted house), and some profound (a traditional Masi story from a Masi village--with a great moral). Chuck and two of the guys even made up a story to tell in pieces, each of them picking up where the other went off (about poor Nathan, a teenager with a big toe that is always numb and can't feel the temperature of the water). Sitting around on a Saturday night drinking hot chocolate telling stories. Yes, I would say this is a lost art, one I am glad Kawika is willing to help reclaim.
So on that note, tonight I am thankful for:

• Kawika's hospitality, creativity and spirit he shares so infectiously with others.
• Laughing hysterically as Chuck, Kawika and Kyle act out Dave's story on the spot.
• The new Jadon Lavik CD I just bought--Vicky mentioned he had a CD of acoustic hymns that was good, and I've never heard of him but I love hymns, so I checked him out on itunes and LOVE it! Thanks for the recommendation Vicky!
  
• The great small group conversation I had with Christina and Alethia this morning--getting to start my day spending 2 hours at a local coffee shop just chatting (the rest of our group was busy).
• The warm air and blue sky we experienced today.
• Ending the day by laughing with my fiance watching an episode of The Office.
  

Its Finally Friday...

...and I ended up in bed all day with a migraine :( I was supposed to work all day on this final paper that I have left, but that didn't happen. Oh well, there's always tomorrow I guess :) Today I am thankful for:

• the fact that I really didn't need to be anywhere today, so I was able to rest.
• my fiance bringing me a smoothie when I was too nauseous to eat anything else.
• a great meal of homemade spaghetti which I made this evening for us--mom's sauce with whole wheat, organic noodles from Trader Joes--yum! (Chuck even declared that he likes these noodles better than the regular spaghetti noodles and that I could use them all the time)
• The chance to explore a new dessert option tonight--for date night we headed to South Pasadena to the Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Shoppe for hot fudge sundaes--delicious! My therapist's office is across the street so every week I drive by and wonder what it's like--definitely a cheesy location but yummy ice cream!
• Now we are about to go watch Saved--the ultimate spoof on pop-Christian culture--which Chuck has never seen--he's in for a lot of eye rolling!
  

Come, Bounce with me

A few weeks ago in preaching practicum a classmate jokingly mentioned he "bounced" on his feet while he preached. Because he told us that, I was hyper-aware of it, so as he preached I noticed. In the discussion after his sermon the group told him they never saw him bouncing...I had to be the one to say "umm actually, I did." It was kind of a joke, got a laugh, and since then I'm the "bouncing Nazi" in the group. Tonight he preached again, and as he stood up to the pulpit he jokingly said, "come friends, bounce with me..." Laughter ensued and preaching practicum got off to a light-hearted beginning--which I was thankful for :) Laughing with new friends would be the first gift of grace I'll mention :) Others from today:

• The chance to chat with Miranda a bit and sort of catch up--I think both of us were kind of distracted but it was great to hear her voice & made me all that much more excited to see her 3 weeks from today!
• Emails from Heather--can't wait to see her and all the old PA staff together again--also in about 3 weeks!
• Big hugs from my fiance when I kind of melted down on him this evening--he has a great shoulder to cry on, even if the tears aren't for any real reason!
• A beautiful walk at the Rose Bowl this afternoon by myself--blue skies, the chance to get out and really stretch my legs after a few weeks of paper writing and traveling have left me rather sedentary.
  
• The chance to start my day at the hair-dresser's with the new People magazine--I was able to mindlessly flip through the whole issue which was a fabulous break!
  

Remembering the Dust

Many of you who know me know that I love the liturgical calendar--I love the rhythm of the year, seeing the seasons change in the color of the cloth on the altar, seeing the advent wreath emerge (at Bethany we actually had a Lenten wreath--in the shape of the cross--so I guess it wasn't really a wreath--that instead of lighting a new candle each week during the 6 weeks of Lent we would extinguish a candle each week, leading up to Holy Week when the candles we go out completely on Good Friday). I was probably the only 12 year old who could articulate the meaning of each of the candles on a wreath, or what color each season had correlated with it. I don't just love the liturgical seasons because it's "church trivia," I love the liturgical seasons because it brings a depth, a richness, a familiarity to my faith. I strongly believe this aspect of our faith is not taught well in churches at all--never explained so others can appreciate the depth and richness of the traditions of the seasons (think about it--we teach our children the traditions of the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy, and Santa--and even the indians and pilgrims, yet we fail to teach them that Pentecost is the church's birthday, or that advent and lent are times of preparing and waiting for something really really big and special to happen). When I worked in children's ministry at Bethany that is one thing we did well there--kids as young as four were helped to expereince these aspects of worship in their own worship space. The colors would change just like in the sanctuary, candles would be lit, each week we would talk about what season we were in and what it meant, what we were celebrating or waiting for, and how we could prepare for things like Easter or Christmas. My four year olds would come in the classroom, see that maybe there was a purple cloth out right around this time of year and would say "oh!! it's purple!! Purple means we are waiting for something!!" And then we'd talk about what we're waiting for--letting us expereince more deeply the season using our senses--seeing the colors, smelling the smoke from the candles etc. When we have kids and begin establishing our own family traditions, the church calendar is going to play a big part in guiding the rhythm of our family's year. (Dont worry, this isn't something I decided on my own, Chuck's excited about this--he said he isn't sure he ever really understood or celebrated the depth of the church seasons and loves that I get so fired up about making this a part of our lives). A friend of mine from Bethany actually just published a book on helping families expereince traditions like these in their homes, which I can't wait to get my hands on and read!

Needless to say, I love Ash Wednesday. It's a day that seems to mark a turning point--we've been celebrating the Christmas season, Epiphany (the day the Magi visited Jesus--symbolizing the spreading of the Gospel to the Gentile world), and the Epiphany season, and now we're moving in a new direction. We're heading towards Jerusalem. But it's not a straight and easy journey. We have some work to do to prepare. We as Americans like to rush ahead to the feel-good ending of books and movies, and likewise I think we do the same with the Easter season. We forget that to fully experience the joy of Easter Sunday we have to stay and sit awhile at the foot of the cross and the entrance to the sealed tomb on Good Friday. And Lent helps us get ready to encounter the agony and grief that took place there. We realize we are mere dust, we are nothing, yet it is for us, for us dust-people that Jesus showed up, walked an arduous path to the most gruesome death any of us could imagine. As we enter into this new season, may we attempt to take a deep breath. To slow down. To stop racing around and simply sit in wonder at what has been done for us. And may we remember that we are ashes and dust--yet we are loved more than we could ever possibly imagine.

Ash Wednesday

Today I caught glimpses of God's goodness in these places:

• Chuck and I picked up our wedding rings today--they fit perfectly and look great--I got diamonds on mine that make my finger even more sparkly :) I can't wait to get to wear it!
• I got to take time out in the middle of the day to cook, to simply enjoy a little time in my kitchen preparing a yummy lunch (black bean and chicken BBQ burritos)
• Tonight's Ash Wednesday service at Glendale Pres was a great mixture of music, dance, drama, confession, testimony and video--definitely unlike any Ash Wed. service I've ever been to, but the youth and young adults putting it together did a great job.
• The humbling moment of our friend George, who is a youth director at Glendale gently placing his hand upon my forehead and making the sign of the cross in ashes--reminding me that I am dust.
• Chuck and I made it all the way down to Psalm 23 today! I remember when we started our countdown at 150 that I thought we'd never get to this benchmark!
  
• I had a group presentation today that went very well--one more paper to go!
  

Mardi Gras

I don't actually have anything to say about Mardi Gras, but I do have 5 little glimpses of grace to share with you from today :)

• Last night I got to finish Pillars of the Earth--a 1,000 page book I started at Christmas that I LOVED. I'm excited to read the sequel, but I might work my way through some of the other novels on my shelf already--next up The Book Thief or Twilight.
• I got to hear two great sermons today in the preaching group I lead, two solid sermons from 1 Corinthians--I love the chance to take two hours in the middle of the day and hear the word of God.
• A great therapy session processing all kinds of stuff--mostly excitement about the wedding and some observations about family systems and how they differ from one another.
• Sophie's help with my prescription refill debacle! I think she might end up saving me a lot of money in the future since apparently my pharmacist doesn't know everything.
• Chuck came into my apartment while I was in class today to wash my dishes--and he's cooking dinner tonight, I really am pretty lucky :)
  

Daily Grace

A friend of mine, Tuhina, has been posting 5 things every day she is thankful for--little doses of grace that have appeared in her life, and it has been so much fun to read--to see all the little things we have to be thankful for if we just open our eyes! I probably won't have the discipline to do this every day (although this really could be a good Lenten discipline to practice...I'll have to think about it) but for today, here are 5 little glimpses of grace I've seen today.

• Getting to fall asleep at 9:30 last night and wake up wide awake at 6:30 this morning to start my day.
• My project group being willing to help me out with my portion of the project we are presenting on Wednesday (topic: white privilege...fascinating stuff!)
• A fabulous coffee date with Chap, the prof I work for, who actually thought my idea for the book I want to write was great and he wants me to go for it, and said is willing to help!
  
• Getting to email and share pictures from my final dress fitting with friends--can't show them to the one I want to the most, but I can show them to girl friends!
  
• Lunch at Panera while I graded project proposals--my favorite, Fuji Apple Chicken Salad--yum!
  

don't read if you get overwhelmed with details easily!

All I have to say is, "wow."  Weddings are a LOT of details.  I am a detailed person, I always catch the little things and think about things people often overlook, but until this weekend I don't think I realized how many details are going into our wedding.  It has been a bit of a whirlwind weekend, starting Thursday night when I caught a red eye flight to Minneapolis.  I landed at 6 AM, got about 45 minutes of sleep at the house (because I couldn't fall straight to sleep) and by 9 was at the county clerk's office getting our marriage license.  (Yes, I even had to raise my right hand and swear one of us was a man and one of us was a woman...I couldn't help it, I was so tired I almost laughed at the poor woman...guess we are not in California anymore...)  From there we headed to the arboretum where we met with our event planner, completely redid the seating chart I had been working on for the reception--literally the only table left untouched was mine and Chuck's (this is for the better, but was still a lot of work and discussion between my mom, dad, and I), finalized all the details with her for the day, tried to mentally arrange how we're setting up the ceremony room, how many chairs, rows, etc we wanted set up and on and on.  

Then, we dropped dad off at home, and made our way to the mall where I was to meet with the woman who is going to do my hair and make up.  I walk in to meet her, glasses on, bags under my eyes from a grand total of 45 minutes of sleep in over 24 hours and let her attempt to wow me with her work.  I was impressed, I walked out of there still not having slept looking pretty fabulous...I'm pretty excited about the actual wedding day when I will hopefully have had a bit more sleep!  I finally got to go home and sleep for a few hours, and then we spent the rest of the evening talking about details--who is renting cars, how are we getting everyone from the hotel to the rehearsal/wedding, who still needs places to stay, how are all these people going to eat, are we feeding them all or are they going to be expected to eat at restaurants?, what time do us girls need to start getting ready if pictures are starting at about 3, how many family members will still be in town for brunch on Sunday, who haven't we heard back from etc etc.  I was pretty amazed at all the details that had to be worked out!  

Today we headed out again this time for my final dress fitting, which was SO great because it fit perfectly and looked awesome--I cannot wait to put it on again, i LOVED it!  I can't breathe super well, and won't be able to eat a ton, but it's not moving once it's on, which was my goal :)  This afternoon mom and I went to Michael's and Party City for various items, went by the Men's Warehouse to ensure all the tuxes had indeed been ordered to be picked up here in MN, bought pens that hopefully won't smear for our guest book, found the place cards for the tables so people know where they are sitting, went to the hotel to find out who had not reserved rooms who still needed to, bought paper products for the Sunday brunch, and I think that maybe that was it?  It was a BUSY weekend!  I have my list of tasks forming for my bridesmaids who will be here that week (assembling programs, filling out place cards--those kinds of things), but I think that everything will get done and things should be beautiful, I can't wait!  Exactly 1 month from right NOW I will be married and with my husband!  

All I know is that Chuck and I owe my mom HUGELY for all the work she is putting into things, she's spending hours of her week figuring things out for us and there is absolutely no way we could pull this event off without her and her amazing event-planning skills, she did a beautiful job with Megan's wedding two years ago and I can't wait to see the finished results of mine!   We're pretty lucky girls, we have a pretty incredible woman to look up to :)  

super wedding woman!

I'm catching a red eye tonight to fly back to Minnesota for the weekend (ok really for 48 hours--I land at 6 Friday morning and leave Sunday morning) for my last trip before our big week! My mom and I have quite the to-do list for the next two days, which I have been told my poor dad is being dragged on "so he doesn't feel left out." :) I'm hoping to get a few things crossed off the to-do list in the next two days. We're getting my dress fitted one last time, hoping to find pens for our guest book that won't smear on the shiny pages, finalize the seating chart for the reception dinner, get our marriage license, make signs for parking/drop off for the wedding, buy the place cards that will tell people where they are sitting, meet with the event coordinator at the arboretum so I can tell her how many tables of each number of people I need and where I want our table to be located, look for paper for our programs for the ceremony, meet with my hair stylist to figure out how to put it up with a veil, choose and order the wine etc etc :) It'll be a busy weekend, but hopefully I'll feel pretty productive on Sunday.

I finalized our ceremony yesterday & emailed it out to our pastor, readers, and musicians--we finally have all our music, scripture readings, etc chosen, and I finalized who is escorting whom down the aisle and in which order, so I have the whole processional figured out and typed up too. (I have learned after being involved in several wedding rehearsals that is an important thing to finalize before the rehearsal--otherwise there could potentially be drama when it comes to having to make those choices of who is going to stand where at the last minute--so that's all been decided already). I also typed up a rough draft of our program, just a few more details to add before that can be printed and assembled. And I have managed to stay on top of thank you notes for all the gifts that have been received so far...So we're getting there--SO close! 30 days from tonight!! The guys keep asking Chuck how wedding planning is going and he just laughs saying, he thinks it is good, but he hasn't had to do much, except offer feedback (which he says he is fine with). And yes, he does have his to-do list, they are just tasks that will be done that week, like getting decorations for our beach party, checking us into our hotel room for Saturday night earlier in the day, ordering his groomsmen's gifts, picking up tuxes, making sure our pastor has rides from the airport etc. So don't worry, he'll be busy!

In other random updates, I'm preaching my last sermon of my seminary career tonight in preaching practicum, basically on how we as Christians are often way more like the Pharisees than we are like Jesus. It was an incredibly convicting passage for me and I am hoping for others who will hear it and what I am saying about it.

I am down to 2 assignments of my MDiv! One group presentation on the concept of "white privilege" and one 12 page paper on that same topic. The presentation is Wednesday and I'm going to have the paper done by Monday March 2nd, so I will be DONE then! In fact I've even lined up people to go out to happy hour that night with me to celebrate so I have some real motivation and accountability to be finished by then. I have to have my apartment totally packed and ready to move before the wedding, so I wanted to be done with school work by the first week of March so I have 2 weeks to pack, take stuff to Good Will, finalize wedding stuff etc, before I head off to Minnesota. That's the goal, we'll see how it goes :)

Those are the latest updates from here! Chuck is going on a surfing/camping trip this weekend with the guys for his bachelor party--he decided that sounded like way more fun than any other type of party they could throw him (and I whole heartedly agreed--a guys-only camping trip sounded like a much better option to me than alternatives...) So while I'm off in wedding-world he'll be surfing (hopefully with good waves, I feel so bad for them, they have had such crappy waves/weather this quarter, he deserves a weekend with amazing waves--he has worked SO hard this quarter and needs a break before heading into the final crunch--so I am keeping my fingers crossed for them!). Off to practice this sermon...I'll post another update after this weekend!

praising in the storm

Its been raining a lot this past week, which I love because it does remind me of my home, and because we so desperately need it here in our drought infested desert. Every time it rains, I find myself being thankful, rain really does always remind me that God provides, that God really does wash away the dust and dirt in the air and in our lives. So I just started thinking about the fact that I have a lot to be thankful for these days. Here are just a few things I am praising God for:

**a great weekend with Jenn who was in town visiting
**a wonderfully relaxing Valentines Day evening with my fiance--making dinner, practicing our dancing, a little cuddling, The Office, a beautiful pink rose, a chocolate covered strawberry...it was a pretty great night.
**My upcoming trip to Minneapolis this weekend to do all the last minute decision making/wedding details.
**Dave & Tera got engaged this weekend! We all got to celebrate with them yesterday.
**a fiance who is willing to take some of my random wedding tasks off my plate to make things easier for me.
**friends who have been communicating how excited they are to get to come celebrate our marriage.
**my community who regularly asks me how I'm doing & how they can pray for me in the midst of all the upcoming transitions--and have offered to put together bulletins for the ceremony, pack my apartment, take stuff to Good Will etc.
**Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet--one of the best novels I've read. It's long--about 1000 pages, and I'm at about page 700, but I am LOVING it. It's been a long time since I've read a book where I despise the villain so much, or desperately want to see things work out for other characters.
**I am SO close to being DONE with my MDiv! One more sermon to preach (this Thurs.), one group presentation (next Wed.) and one 12 page paper (due Monday March 2). SO close!

she's mine, that's my bride

Chuck made an interesting comment a few weeks ago, and I have been thinking about it a lot these past several weeks. He's involved with college students at a local university, hanging out with them, leading a small group and just serving as a friend/mentor to them (he does an AMAZING job caring for them, I am so proud of him!). They have been having some difficult situations going on in their lives, and I can't go into detail here, but Chuck has been spending time with them just listening and offering counsel when he can. A few weeks ago he asked if I would go with him to meet with two student leaders, just to be with him to help him listen to them, to offer encouragement and support to these students (I've met them a few times, they are GREAT students--and it was so fun to "do ministry" together, we both caught different things as we were listening and were able to encourage them in different ways, I now know why Jesus sent people out in twos!). One of the issues these students are up against is an adult in their lives continually bashing the church, speaking harshly against it, and discouraging students from getting involved in local churches, and over time it has become incredibly discouraging to them. At one point Chuck looked at one of the students and asked him, "just out of curiosity, what do you think my response would be if you just sat there and started verbally bashing Sarah, talking smack about her, putting her down...what do you think my response would be?" The student looked a little confused but said, "umm, I'd hope you would be pretty furious with me." Chuck said "absolutely, she's my bride, she is the one I love more than anything on earth, I can't even begin to imagine how I would react if someone started trashing her. Or if on our wedding day, while she's standing there in her beautiful white dress, what do you think I would do if someone just started grabbing handfuls of mud and throwing them at her?" The students laughed and said "um, you'd go insane protecting her." "So," he asked the students, "how do you think Jesus feels when he hears someone trashing his bride? He's told us that's what the church is, that's the One he loves, the One he died for. How do you think he feels listening to the way people talk about Her?" The point was driven home.

I loved the analogy in general and know it could make a great sermon illustration someday, but it hit even more closely to home hearing him say those words about me. I am someone's bride. I know I've been joking about that on here lately, with the "I'm the bride" card my friend made me, but I've been thinking a little more about what this means on a deeper level. There is a man who now looks at me and says "she's mine, that's my bride, my beloved." I don't totally understand how much Chuck loves me, just like I don't understand at all how deeply Jesus loves us, his bride. But I do know that the way my groom looks at me and treats me is a reflection of the love of Christ. We were joking tonight about some of the things that could go wrong at the wedding, and he just looked at me and said "we could get married under a bridge, or in a tornado, and as long as you say yes, I won't care, you'll be my bride, that's all I care about." Being someone's bride. A few years ago I hated the idea of "belonging" to some man, now I can't wait. Because for me to "belong" to Chuck means that there is someone who loves me more than I can imagine, there is someone in this world who will stand by my side no matter what, who will believe in me when I can't believe in myself, who will speak up for me when I don't have words to stand up for myself. For Jesus to call the church His bride was a pretty powerful image for him to use, one that I think might take a lifetime of marriage for me to begin to wrap my mind around. But until then, I'm going to enjoy being someone's Beloved, someone's bride. Because he's a pretty incredible someone :)

a pretty incredible gift

I came home yesterday to a package from my wonderful mailman (who happens to know me by name and always yells hello to me in his wonderful Puerto Rican accent, I love it!) I don't know why, but I thought it might be a bridal shower gift since Jenn wasn't able to be here this weekend, so I actually didn't open the box til Chuck had left for the evening. I was wrong, it wasn't a bridal shower gift. Instead, I found an absolutely gorgeous homemade quilt in my favorite colors and with pictures of things I love on it! Jenn has been working on this for the past year apparently and I had NO idea! I had to post photos to brag, she did an amazing job and it is definitely one of the most meaningful gifts I've ever received!

Flip flops, coffee cups, butterflies, and tulips make up this quilt of things Sarah loves!the embroidery is made up of butterflies and tulipsShe even had my favorite coffee order embroidered on one corner!

more shower photos

I received some photos in the last couple days from my bridal shower and thought I'd post those for you all...

Here is Becca, ready to catch the train to get to the showerAlethia, Christina and JennMegan and IThe beginning of present openingI did get one present that is appropriate to show off :) Christina and Jenn gave me two things, but one was a pair of warm and comfy pjs...the other, well, it's not pictured here...:)The whole group of beautiful womenJenn and I--she was the one who made this whole thing happen!

6 times a bridesmaid...now i'm the bride!

It was time for another bridal shower! This time, here in Pasadena with the fabulous women of Fuller :) My small group picked this weekend to celebrate because Sophie was able to be in town, so the 8 of us went to a beautiful (and yummy!) formal tea on Saturday morning instead of holding our regular small group. The girls got all decked out, Tera even found this amazing hat to wear--and there was talk of white gloves although no one had any they could bring. Since I am not a traditional bachelorette-party kind of girl (no clubs, shots, random pranks, or sleazy bars were going to go over well with me!) they decided to do a classy tea party with...well...traditional bachelorette type gifts. Which means present opening pictures will not be posted for the world to see---only one person will be seeing them, and that's not for another 40 days...:)

I don't have most of the photos--they were on other's cameras, but here are the few I do have, and more will be posted as they are sent to me.

Tera and her amazing hat. We called her Sunbonnet Sue all morning :)Alethia and ChristinaThis is Becca. Becca despises the color pink. For some reason though, Becca owns one pink flowered dress. This was Sarah's party. Sarah LOVES the color pink. Becca loves Sarah enough to wear the pink dress just for her. Now that's a good friend!Sophie stole Tera's hat to pose with AlethiaWe each got our own tea pot with our flavor of teaSophie, Alethia, Christina, and JennWe had all pre-chosen our food, so they brought it out on these trays--half the tray was my food and half was Megan's who was sitting next to me. It was SO yummy! I had a cafe mocha scone and a cranberry/chicken/cream cheese sandwich.This is one gift you can see pictures of, because I think it is pretty fabulous. Chuck does too and can't wait to see if I actually have the guts to use it :) Jenn made me a card that I can carry in my pocket the week of the wedding and if anyone argues with us, questions our decisions, complains about ANYTHING, fights with me about who is sitting where at the reception, or whatever, I can just pull out the card and flash it :) "I am the bride...thanks!" You know, just in case anyone forgets whose wedding it actually is :) She offered to make Chuck one too that said he was the groom, but he said if anyone gives him a hard time or complains he'll just point them to me and let me play the "I'm the bride" card :) (Like he said, being the bride probably carries a little more weight than being the groom when it comes to wedding details but he did promise to be my body guard and have my back defending any decision I make!)

Extreme Celebrating

Because we are still students, we are not here in Pasadena to celebrate major holidays together all the time (especially now that Sophie has moved to Texas!). So three years ago we decided that Valentines Day was going to be "our" holiday to go all out to celebrate with one another. It really came out of a pretty bad experience Jenn and I had our first year here. We were involved in a small group of women with some other theology students, who were...well...a little different from us. We were young, excited about life, fresh into seminary, optimistic, and pretty much thrilled with the idea of celebrating Valentines Day with this particular small group (we were all single women so we had decided to go out to dinner together). Jenn and I like holidays. They're fun! Valentines Day had always been a time to celebrate and love your friends, even without men in our lives. So that first Valentines Day at Fuller we show up to go to dinner with these women dressed in pink and red and excited and bubbly about how great it was to celebrate a day where we can love each other. We were met by women all in black, proclaiming how bitter they were to be single, how much men sucked, how Valentines Day was a horrible holiday because it just reminded people who are single that they are in fact still single. Needless to say they did not appreciate our bubbliness. And we did not appreciate their bitterness. Until last year, I had been single for every Valentine's Day in my life, and I for one have always had a great time making friends cards, leaving gifts, and appreciating the reminder that I have an amazing group of people in my life who do love me--single or not. After that first disastrous Valentine's Day here Jenn and I decided we were never again going to let a great holiday be ruined by bitter attitudes. So the following year (our second year here at Fuller) the secret Valentine tradition was born. Sophie, Becca, Jenn and I all drew names of one another, went shopping for each other, and then got all dressed up at some point during Valentine's weekend to go out to a dinner and show and exchange gifts. Last year, we did the same thing and this year, we decided the tradition was too wonderful to give up. So even though Sophie lives in Texas we wanted to find a way to make this happen. A friend of hers in Texas drew names for us and emailed each of us individually to tell us who our valentine was (since we couldn't all be together to draw names). I drew Becca :) We made plans for Sophie to be able to fly out here to LA during some weekend near valentines day and started emailing about how we wanted to celebrate. We wanted to do something different this year, not necessarily something fancy. So we decided to go out to lunch to exchange gifts and then went rock climbing at an indoor rock gym! We were supposed to go hiking but rain got in the way so the rock climbing was a great option. I'd always wanted to try but am terrified of heights, but figured these 3 women are pretty much the people I'd trust with anything, so they were going to be great at helping me conquer my fear. Plus Sophie and Becca have done this a lot so I knew they'd be helpful and supportive. It was awesome. Terrifying, but SO fun and I am so proud of myself for getting to the top of a wall! Here are photos of our valentines day adventure:

Jenn and Sophie enjoying our Chick fil A lunchJenn and I love Chick fil A and Valentine's Day!Sophie's gifts from her secret Valentine (Jenn)Becca with the personalized coffee mug I made for herBecca with the gifts I gave herMy Valentines Day gift wrapped in a Christmas bagSophie had my name & made Chuck and I a journal where we can record our favorite memories and things we are thankful for from our first year of marraige.Becca had Jenn's name for the third year in a row! This year she found these hot pink shoes that Jenn loved!Then it was off to start climbing. Sophie looks like one tough cookie--at least that's what her t-shirt says!Proved to be true too, she was amazing!Me belaying her from belowBecca belaying Jenn Sophie trying to figure out how to climb on the ceilingJenn--AKA spider woman!Jenn and Becca had a problem...no one was hurt, or even in remote danger, but it did end with Becca on the ground...