(cor)al reef

SWITCH-A-ROO

2010-06-02T14:31:00.000-07:00

Im switching to a new blog! Catch all my tweets and blogs at the same time on cory-matthew.tumblr.com

GO CHECK IT OUT HERE http://cory-matthew.tumblr.com/

Pictures, Quotes, Video, Experiences and FUN!!

Love you all!

Friday night adventure!

2010-05-03T15:47:00.000-07:00

I know. I didnt follow what I said. One post a day. Ive now skipped two days. sorry!

Friday I went to Disneyland! I went with Nolan Henslick, Nick Boyd and Elise Bergerson! We all had a great time. The park wasnt very crowded and the spirit of the day was way up! The friends I was with just made my day. I love them all very much.

Here are some words that are triggers of the day:

Dezi
STAY ON YOUR SIDE
tuanga tuanga
Attaching the chain to Elise’s purse
Trust Fall
walking diagonally
Sour Balls
Bumper Cars
Bread Bowls
Glozell1’s cousins

SOoOo many more stories than that, but im sort of lazy and having a lot of fun doing other things right now. Maybe Ill say more some other time.

Peace and Blessings, Peace and Blessings.

ZERO capacity

2010-04-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

So after I got home from Kenya a few weeks back, I put all my pictures on my computer with hopes to upload them to my blog, and facebook, and our team Flikr account and such, but with the 2,500 pictures that i took while i was there, my computer now has zero memory left.

I am currently sitting at my computer putting all of my 14,000 photos i have taken over the years into shared files so i can burn them all onto a disk on my mothers laptop. I am hoping that by the end of this weekend i will be able to show some love to facebook and my blog with more and more pictures of Kenya.

short and sweet today so i can get back to work on transferring all these photos.

oh and ps. there is a chance i may be switching to a tumblr account here in the near future just because many more of my friends have an account over there! stayed tuned to hear when i make the switch! cory-matthew.tumblr.com

Photo #2 Caption: This is our team minus a few who had some passport issues back in LA. We just arrived in Kitale, Kenya ready to do some awesome ministry. This was our fourth plane ride going there and it was after we spent the night in Nairobi, Kenya for the night. Doesn't the team look refreshed and ready to go? I know I was soo stoked to be in Kenya; this place I had been praying for and only dreaming of what it would be like. We had finally landed on the red soil!

8 more.. just 8

2010-04-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I had another one of those crazy realizations.

I only have 8 more HSM services left in my high school career.
I couldnt even comprehend what that meant at first just because I was just living in the moment, but that means in approximately 56 days I will no longer have the privilege to take advantage of every opportunity HSM (High School Ministry) provides for its students. Such a bummer if you ask me!
In just a few weeks time, I will be a college student at the University of California Los Angeles.

Crazy! From Mustang to Bruin. From vocab quizes to research papers. From 7am class to 2pm lectures! Thinking ahead is bittersweet. There are so many people that I will miss, but I know they will all be available to contact and talk to often even if im up at school next year.

Its going to be such a journey for me also! I have been given the privilage to work alongside the Womens Gymnastics Team at UCLA, while I am there. Could not be more excited for that! I have been able to get on the floor at Pauley Pavillion this year to help assist Miss Val (head coach) and it has been so much fun! Ive been able to get to know a few of the girls as well and its been awesome to get the chance to talk with them about Kenya, and high school life and other sorts of conversations. They are an awesome team and I cannot wait to be a part of it in just 4 quick months.

Today I have been working on scholarships that I still need to apply for. Each time i go onto the UCLA website i get more and more excited each time! Im sure you will all be hearing of my adventures while i am there!

Ps. I tweeted last night that I would post on this daily. This is the first post of the first day. So far.. mission accomplished! Also there will be a Kenya picture of the day, everyday! Here is number 1!

Photo #1 Caption: So an awesome friend Allison Hibbard made 30 "Alice's" for our team to give away to people at the different places we visited while we were there! This picture is of two school teachers at Discover to Recover which is a school for children who are affected or infected with HIV/AIDS. Our team spent about 2 hours there and we just got to hang out with the kids and play football and run around with them. They were all filled with joy and love and it was just a great place to be as one of our last places we went doing Ministry while we were in Kitale.

Silent Song Devotional

2010-04-12T18:31:00.001-07:00

Here is a post I just completed for our You Own the Weekend Series happening this weekend in the High School Ministry! Check it out!

___________________________________________________________________________________

Hey Friends!

In this crazy busy week, we need to just take a step back and listen to God.

For the service we will be showing a silent song. A silent song is a bunch of thought provoking words, verses, phrases, thoughts, and questions, that will challenge the congregation to dig deeper into the lyrics of todays worship music.

With the song below, have your own quiet time with God while you listen. What comes to mind? What is God doing in your heart through this song? How does Unity with God, the church and the world pertain to this song? How does this song make you feel? What verses come to mind? Any Bible stories that you make think of? Write them all out in the comment space below and we will compile them all to assist in the silent song presentation for this weekend.

Listen to the song, Surely We Can Change, by David Crowder. The song is in the Youtube video below so we know we are all listening to the same song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuV5btFoZas

Really take this to heart. Think about the congregation and how this song can impact others.

Love you guys. Thank you for all your hearts on this serving opportunity. Cannot thank you all enough.

Cory

2 minute brain matter!

2010-03-01T14:57:00.000-08:00

Here I sit, just contemplating what the next few weeks have in store for me. I see so many different opportunities, tasks, friendships, and so much more. I leave for Kenya in 2 days and 10 hours almost exactly, and I am just sooo stoked. I seriously cannot describe my excitement!

Im trying to start gathering all of the things I need to pack before I leave and its just ramping up the excitement more and more every minute I take something out and lay it on the floor! I have decided to only t-shirts that I will be leaving at Oasis of Hope. I will be donating them after we wash them on the last day! I thought it would be just a small thing I could do for the people who are in need of some clothes on their back.
Pastor Steve sent us an email today, because he is already in Kitale, and he was telling us that rainy season has already hit Kenya! He said it has rained every afternoon so far while he has been there and it is pretty chilly at night. It is summer there, so there will still be a lot of sun and hot weather, but he told us to remember our sweatshirts, ponchos and umbrellas when we are packing.
I got to get back to work, but I thought I would stop in and spill some brain matter! So stoked for Kenya on Thursday! Love you all!
K
E
N
Y
A
:)
Photo Caption: This is a picture of the new Oasis of Hope building in Kitale, Kenya that our team will be doing our summer camp at! These are just some of the kids that drop in each day and hang out! I took this photo from a blog site of another woman who has gone to Kitale recently with Saddleback! It makes me excited just to read her stories that she has posted about Oasis!

Busy Busy Weekend!

2010-02-25T22:16:00.000-08:00

My Weekend is definitely a busy one, but I am hoping to be able to fill in everyone on a lot of things before I venture off to Kenya in 6 days!

YES!!
JUST 6 DAYS!!!

Here is the plan for the weekend:

Friday:
French Club Luncheon at THHS.
Lunch with Amy Narramore.
Coffee with Taylor Shanton.
Hang out with the B-day girl JORDAN GUNDERSON!
CSUF for the UCLA vs. CSUF gymnastics meet!

Saturday:
Winter Formal with Jordan Gunderson! :) Pictures will be up soon after!

Sunday:
Church in the morning. (Sean McDowell's Q: series)
Lunch with Julianna and Elise.
Family time/Packing for Kenya

That there is my weekend! Im excited for all of the awesome things to begin!
Hopefully I will be able to get to the computer to update you on some awesome things that happened this week! Cant wait to tell you all!

Picture Caption!: This is me and my little buddy Jadin Griffin, son of my mentor, who I got to go to Disneyland with a few weeks back. I was there with his big sister Lexy and his dad! It was a really fun time! Love this little guy!

Weekend Service Inspiration!

2010-02-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a little note I wrote to some fellow students at my school who are student leaders in the High School Ministry with me! We are starting to plan a weekend that is completely led, and put on by students from Trabuco Hills High School. We are hoping to make it big and better than last year! I will keep you all updated on the planning and execution of it all!

I think we have a lot to convey to Trabuco. We are a group of student leaders at our church who need to live out what we are going to speak of on our weekend. Don't just prepare for this weekend materially but try your hardest in the next couple months and weeks leading up to really let your light shine in all parts of your light.

Like Grant said, I would love to start hearing some of your guys ideas. Ill list some of the components that we need in a service for those of you who aren't very familiar:

1) songs: think based around the theme and also just a fun opener song that we could do!

2) teaching element: pray about ways that we can best convey the message we want to convey the most clear. It's very important that we make this the strongest piece of the service as it will be what we leave people with as they leave the refinery.

3) videos: any way we can help further drive the teaching element home is best. Also any fun videos to use as a hook into the service. A countdown video? a re-make of the alma mater? all ideas are welcome!

4) skit: (this is totally optional) I have found in the past that the congregation will adapt and relate a lot to a visual representation of the subject we are focusing on. Many times people get lost in videos and start becoming distracted and use a video to pull out their phone and zone off. Skits have really dug deep. Think back to the Lifehouse Everything skit El Toro did last year, or the I'm Broken skit that a group of students performed during the happy series in HSM, Crave, & the main sanctuary. If we can get a deep, powerful and meaningful skit together, I think it can do awesome things.

5) announcements: these are provided by the HSM team, but we for sure will need two maximum, students to deliver them. start praying about if this is something you could take the lead on once we all begin to delegate.

6) take away: last year Trabuco owned those bracelets. I still have mine on, and i think a lot of others do too. Think into our theme and try to find a take away that we can give students as they leave. Meaningful, nostalgic, and long lasting.

Please shoot up any and all ideas up on this wall! Ill keep taking down some of the ideas together and at the next meeting we can all narrow some of them down. No idea is a bad idea. Who knows, maybe parts and pieces from each idea will be used. One thing though guys is don't become too attached to your ideas. We cant do everything in the hour and fifteen minute service. I know we can be a great team and hopefully this will even spark more friendships within our own school!

Love you guys, and girls!!
CT

Kenya Prayer Guide!

2010-02-22T14:45:00.000-08:00

HSM Kenya Prayer Guide 2010

Please pray for health, strength, and safe travel for the team

The HSM Team:
Leaders: Katie Edwards, Josh Griffin, Jaime Bertran, Becka Holley, Phil Chenery, Chip Bragg, Jessica Powers
Students: Dorsa Fahami, Erice Hutchinson, Maddie Mallory, Taylor Shanton, Joe West, Julianna Marraccino, Dakota Biggs, Sarah Olson, Cody Fields, Julianne Bolls, Mariah Crane, Amanda Gleason, Hannah Grady, Ryan Hacker, Nicole Johnson, Mackenzie Jones, Daley Pecaitis, Alex Phillips, Ariana Spunt, Michelle Tietzer, Cory Tomlinson, Brooke Tsuyuki, Maddy Vujnov, Chase Webster, Jennifer Winfree

Day ONE & TWO: (3/4/10 & 3/5/10) Travel to Nairobi, Kenya…and then on to Kitale
Pray for safe travel to Kenya. Pray for rest and the preparation of our hearts for ministry. Pray that all goes smoothly with thelogistics of travelling with a group our size.

Day THREE: (3/6/10) Travel to Kitale and ministry at the PRISON
Pray for our team as we minister to the prisoners of the Kitale prison. Pray that these prisoners would hear and accept the message of Jesus Christ.

Day FOUR: (3/7/10) Church and Tu Maini Orphanage
Please pray for our team as we experience “Kenyan Church” Pray that we are an encouragement to those ministering each week to the people of Kenya. Pray that we find new ways to partner with these churches. Pray for our team as we minister to the prisoners of the Kitale prison. Pray that these prisoners would hear and accept the message of Jesus Christ. Also, pray for our ministry to the boys in the Tu Maini orphanage.

Day FIVE: (3/8/10) First Day of Camp
Please pray for our team as we prepare camp for 200 kids and teenagers. Pray for good connections, good conversation, and for camp to go according to God’s plan. Pray for our partnership with Oasis of Hope. Pray for the kids at camp to have open hearts to the message of Jesus Christ. Pray for the students on our team who are teaching, singing, leading and counseling the kids. Pray that we would be open to ministering outside of our comfort zone. Pray for another student on the team today.

Day SIX: (3/9/10) Camp
Pray that God would give opportunities to our students to share their personal faith with a camper. Pray that we wouldn’t miss any opportunities to share Jesus. Pray that God would make an impact on lives through our team. Pray for your student today.

Day SEVEN: (3/10/10) Camp - Pray for protection from exhaustion and the enemy as we wrap up our last day of camp. Pray that our team would have courage and be bold in sharing their faith with the kids of Oasis of Hope. Pray for the team leaders today. Pray for the teachers of Oasis of Hope that they would continue the mission of bringing kids to Jesus Christ.

Day EIGHT: (3/11/10) Ministry at Discover to Recover
Pray for the strength and the spirit of our team. Pray that God would help us to be bold in our conversations with the kids affected or infected with HIV Aids.

Day NINE: (3/12/10) Work Projects at Oasis of Hope
Pray for our last day of ministry. Pray that we would stay focused as team and that fatigue would not set in. Pray that we would make the most of our last day at Oasis of Hope.

Day TEN & ELEVEN: (3/13/10 & 3/14/10) Pray for safe travel back to Nairobi and then back to America. Pray that we adjust well spiritually emotionally, and physically. Pray that God would continue to work in our hearts after we return. Pray that we would continue to remember and reflect our journey in Kenya. Pray for protection from sickness and fatigue.

Dland in January!

2010-02-20T14:53:00.000-08:00

Got to ride Toy Story Mania with my little JUJU! I beat her butt in that game! Probably one of the best rides at California Adventure. Well worth the wait.

Sorry guys, didnt get the memo that we were pointing at our "I'm Celebrating buttons". I was too busy trying to act like I was attempting to escape!

Soooo, it was Elise's first time on the swinging gondolas of Mickey's Fun Wheel. I guess you could say she really had fun? ... she was terrified. But it was sooo funny to watch her. Later on this ride we spotted some friends of ours on the ground and we started screaming and wailing violently approximately 200 feet above the ground. They heard us after 3 minutes of non sense.

It was really Tiffany's birthday. Not one of those times we fool the tortilla factory into giving us 5 free corn tortillas just because its Archies Birthday.. True Story.

We realized that Monsters Inc. is a great backdrop for pictures at California Adventure. So we utilised it. They are very photogenic. What can I say.

Pictures of Baptism a while back..

2010-02-13T12:05:00.000-08:00

Kenya! Here's the low down!

2010-01-20T15:16:00.000-08:00

43 days from today, I will be boarding a plane and headed off to Kitale, Kenya for 10 days! Not, that I am counting or anything. HA! I cannot begin to tell you about my excitement for this trip. People keep asking me what i'm so excited for, but the truth is, I cannot pin point the answer to this question. There are sooo many things I am excited for that it is beyond words!

The team has had two classroom meeting with the adult medical team that will be there at the same time as us, and they have been very informational meetings. Its awesome also for the team to just be all in the same place at once and getting to know each other before we embark on this awesome adventure! Its awesome to hear the stories from the adults also because some of them have been to Kenya more than five times and they are soo knowledgeable about the culture and just Kitale in general. I am trying to absorb as much of it as I can.

This Saturday we have our packing party which consists of all the students going to a warehouse over by Oakley and we pack 50 pound tubs full with all of the supplies necessary to run a successful summer camp. We will be flying with these supplies so they are our second piece of luggage while checking into the airline! This packing party will be the first time that the student team will be separated from the adult team so we will completely get a glimpse into seeing how the team will work together! Super stoked to see what God has in store for this team!

The next thing on the agenda for the team is the team dinner on the 30th! Super stoked for that! Anyway that we can get the team together is great! Cant wait to see friendships fly while we acquaint ourselves with one another!

Prayer would be appreciated for some of the things below if you feel led:
>> Relationships within the team to stay tension free and totally surrendered to God!
>> The summer camp planning would be super awesome and plan with the kids best interest in mind, not our own.
>> Our hearts to be completely opened to whatever God wants to be done, to be done.

Thank you all so much for following my adventure through life! You all mean so much! Comment back and just say HI! so that I can get an idea of who is following me on this journey! I'm praying for all of you as well, and praying by name would be super sweet, so let me know! Love you guys!

New Years on Colorado Blvd!

2010-01-13T21:21:00.000-08:00

-Okay. So here's how it all went down people.-

I guess you could say that I spent my New Years Eve and New Years Day homeless about the streets of Pasadena because that is exactly what i did.
Before I say anything more. I don't regret a single minute of it at all.
I wont be able to shoot out the play by play because that is far to long of a single blog post but i'll try to spit it out as authentic as I can!
12/31/09 9:30am. Tomlinson's arrive at the scene. Trailer and all. Colorado Boulevard was just calling our name. After we drove up and down the side streets for awhile we found a great spot for the trailer to house itself for the next 24 hours. It did just that.

12/31/09 11:00am-8:00pm After arguing our way to saving our spot on the street, we finally placed the blanket and chairs down on the street. The crazy New Yorkers to the right of us, and Moses, the young Hispanic man next to us quickly became our friends when we broke out the two heaters and the fire pit. Fire Department came and filmed a quick NBC segment on how NOT to have a fire at the Rose Parade. It was awesome. Courtney, Taylor and I creeped into the frame as much as we could during the segment. After all it was our fire. We roasted hot dogs in our fire later like s'mores. They helped create really awesome "That's what she said jokes". Some great conversations happened as we people watched and viewed cars pass with silly string, shaving cream covered tortillas and marshmallows completely covering them. It was magnificent. A very drunk/high/who knows man walked by us at one point and spotted Courtney's leopard print snuggie like it was the newest invention since the assembly line. He then proceeded to ask us to play Catch Phrase with us for about 20 minutes (mind you he was cussing and screaming and laughing hysterically while we played this ever so amazing game). Parted ways with the man by him asking if we would be there all night so he could come back. .. .. he didn't.

01/01/10 12:00am HAPPY NEW YEARS!! It was soo funny to experience thousands of people screaming that sporadically because no ones clocks matched. It was great. When the clock struck twelve on our part of the curb, we celebrated. Courtney and I celebrated by walking on our hands down Colorado blvd. in a street with cars. It was super great! Mother provided everyone with the poppers and the party hats, but those beads you see.. someone threw them at me. I didn't know Mardi Gras was early this year.

01/01/10 1:30am-4:30am Mama Tomlinson, Mama Charters, Bethany Johnson, Bekah Holley, Papa Charters, Taylor Seitz, Courtney Shannon, Tiffany Charters, Bonni Rojas and I decided it would be fun to go and see the parade floats staged on Orange Grove Blvd before the parade. Let me just say i am glad we got some Starbucks beforehand because we walked for a whopping 5.95 miles. Never again. You see that red line on that map. Yup. That's where we walked, in the depths of downtown Pasadena. Such a great idea! This trek took us a long haul of 3 hours. The sun was about to come out by the time we got back to our campsite. Lets just say when we got back to the curb, I then decided there was no use in sleeping. I snuggled up in my sleeping bag while seated in my lawn chair and talked with Bethany until the parade began at 8:30am.

01/01/10 7:30am-11:30am Late arrivers began crowding behind our space on the curb. Many people who decided to sleep that night woke up to some strangers in their face. It was hilarious to watch them wake up. The sunrise that morning was gorgeous though. Bonni captured an awesome shot of it that morning. The parade came and went and it was gorgeous as always! It was interesting to see the floats we had need earlier that morning now on the parade route coming to life with people on them. Its amazing what a smile can do to changed the meaning or subject of a float. As for my favorite float.. it was definitely a toss up between the Jack in the box brazilian themed float with really awkward-diverse-belly revealing dancers and the Dog-boarding float that was a large mountain that the float operators sent bull dogs down on skim boards down this large hill aboard the float. I think you can understand why this was such a toss-up!

Well there you have it. A long 2 days. But a super fun 2 days! Remember that was just the smallest of small descriptions of that great evening and day. There was so much more that went down! It was so great to be able to spend it with people I love and enjoy! New Years TEN AMEN!

first week back..

2010-01-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Monday came. Monday went.
Tuesday came. Tuesday went.
Wednesday came. nothing new.
I was really hoping something exciting would greet me back from break. but nothing has happened. I heard there was a "rumble" in the quad today.. but i was already on my way to quesadilla Wednesday at the Holladay residence. So much better. Nothin much else to say.

Upcoming posts:
-New Years Review
-Kenya Trip Preparations
-Chi Alpha and Baptism prologue

Depuis vingt-trois heures...

2009-12-31T00:57:00.000-08:00

In 23 hours......

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

Thats all. :)

A day in infamy...

2009-12-31T00:27:00.000-08:00

I have always bragged at the fact that I have NEVER shed a tear in a movie before, which i follow up quickly with the fact that it almost happened in Finding Nemo the glorious underwater Pixar film.
This streak was broken on Monday.
My family went and saw Blindside. Holy moly. Let me just tell you. This film was amazing. I cannot put any words to it that can describe it better than that. It was a movie that touched me and touched the hearts of many people in the theater. You could just sense it. It brought to life poverty within our own country and its story of hope. I strongly recommend it to anyone and everyone. I shed large amounts of tears of joy multiple times throughout the film and it just hit the right place in my heart. It is a true story and those always hit home the most for me. This one is definitely worth your money.

Greatest day in December :)

2009-12-21T23:25:00.000-08:00

About a week and a half ago, I was privileged to accompany a part of the Griffin Family at Disneyland! I told Josh(the father and my awesome mentor) that at some point in the near future I would love to sign him and two of his four kids into the park! So we went! It was so awesome! It was a gloomy Friday, which is perfect Disneyland weather! There was some rain off and on, but for the most part it was very nice weather! Josh met me at Starbucks promptly at 12:32, the time I told him to meet me at because that's how long it would take me to get to my car from school and drive to the meeting spot. We dropped off my car at home and then we were off! I looked into the back seat and I saw two elated children who were staring at my front lawn and were in awe of Mickey and Friends who were caroling! Princess Alexis was wearing her Snow White Dress and my little buddy Jadin was wearing his new Transformers rain boots. From the minute I stepped in the car they were very excited! According to Josh, Alexis ran and jumped into his bed that morning with her Snow White Dress already on and ready to go! We stopped for some warm drinks and then we were off to the happiest place on Earth! When we got there, Josh gave Lexy a little present for the day; a Snow White crown! Jadin got some donuts! haha. We then hopped on the tram for our first ride of the day. Upon arrival, we met up with my Auntie Robyn and my dad who got us all into the park and we chit-chatted with them for a bit. Auntie Robyn talked with Princess Alexis for a while about just princess stuff and Lexy was just so excited! We then got onto the Disneyland Railroad and took it all the way to the Princess Fantasy Faire! We only had to wait in line for about 45 minutes to have our personal meet and greet with five princesses! Lexy was soo excited and ready to go every minute we were waiting in line and Jadin was getting antsy so he and I were coloring with Lexy's new princess pen on the showtime schedule for the park! It was the best past time activity to try and guess was he was drawing. I think i may have only got one right. :) While standing in line I got a bit worried because I overheard a woman say that only a few of the princesses were out at any given time, so we were hoping Snow White would be there for little snow white! Sure enough, when we got to the front of the line and they sent us in, as we turned the corner, there she was! Lexy was elated! She couldn't believe that she was talking to Snow White! They got to talk for a little while and then I was able to take a picture with Snow White for my mom! The other princesses we saw were Cinderella, Bell, Jasmine, and Mulan. After we left the meet and greet area Lexy was overjoyed that she got to see all the princesses and get their autographs and take pictures with them. That was what made the day for Josh, Lexy and I. To see her face just light up before, during and after just brought joy to all of us! The rest of the day was pretty great also! We went on Its a Small World, the Tea Cups, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Tours, Monsters Inc., we saw the Aladdin show, but the story of the day with my little buddy Jayjay goes with Buzz Blasters. We had all just finished with dinner at the Pizza Port, Jadin hopped in his stroller and Lexy was holding Haley's hand, who joined us about half way through the day, and we were headed towards Buzz when all the sudden right after we passed the churro stand, Jadin hops right out of the moving stroller and Josh asks him where he was going and he pointed to me! He was signaling that he wanted to ride Buzz with me! It was the greatest thing for me with Jadin that day!
The bottom line over all about this day was that it was magical. The family I got to share it with was amazing, the happiness and joy on their faces brought joy to my heart and the interaction between them and I was amazing. Lexy and Jadin are truly the little brother and sister that I never had. I love them very much. There is so many more awesome things that I could say about this day but i'll leave it at that. :):)

Oasis of Hope Fundraiser Night

2009-12-17T16:18:00.001-08:00

Oasis of Hope is located in Kitale, Kenya. It was founded in 2004 and has helped children who are orphaned, in need, living on the street, and living in extreme poverty. The programs assist approximately 150 children ages 5-18.
Current programs include: a Drop-in Centre, Group Homes, Family Assistance, and Vocational Training.

A team of high school students will be traveling to Kitale in March of 2010 to work with the children at Oasis of Hope. This event hopes to raise funds for the supplies that are needed for this organization to continue to change the lives of these African children.

Please join us this holiday season! This is a FREE open house event so feel free to come and go as you please between 5 and 9pm on Sunday, December 20th, 2009. This event will be appropriate for ALL AGES (parents there is no need to find a babysitter- children are welcome)! Come enjoy friends, live music, and food all while getting some of your holiday shopping done!

We will be selling assorted hand-made gifts such as: aprons, headbands, jewelry, etc...

Contact me with any questions you might have! Hope to see you there!

Update: Kenya!

2009-12-15T23:05:00.000-08:00

Well Hello there followers! Here is just a quick update on where the team is at with raising funds and support for Kenya 2010! As a team we must come up with about $111,000 which may seem like a large number, but with incessant prayer financially, the team has faith that God will surely provide! I have about $1000 more to raise personally, but the good news is that over $1500 has been provided by all my awesome supporters. I thank you all so very much!

We also had our first team meeting this past Sunday that was combined with the adult team that will be in Kitale at the same time as the High School Ministry team. They are all very nice people! They taught us some cool things about their past experiences in Kenya. The adults all come from a medical background of some sort and are focusing mainly on the hospitals and streets of Kitale in hopes of providing assistance to those in need of medical attention. The meeting overall was great! It was great to meet some of the people on our own team also that I had never met before. I can really already sense that God will do something great with our team.

Some things you can pray for:

-Pray for the members of the team who are struggling financially to raise support to get them to Kenya. Pray God will open their hearts and give them hope that God will provide if it is meant for them to go on this trip.
-Pray I will raise enough money by the deadline to get me to Kitale.
-Pray for the students that are not going on this trip, that really wanted to go with our team. Pray that they will continue to be on fire to serve globally and pray for their understanding that this may just not be the time for them.

As a team we have already been thrown some curve balls but we have been turning them into base hits. No home-runs yet, but we are satisfied with the simplest of success. We are all pumped to get out and go! Just as we learned in October, we are on fire with loving God AND loving others. Pray, that this flame will burn constantly and that we will remember why we are participating in such a experience.

Caption to picture: This is a picture my dear friend Nicole Leever took while she was in Rwanda a year and a half ago. I was privileged enough to receive a large copy from her and it is hanging in my bed room always reminding me of this trip. Always making me think about the fact that this trip isn't to better myself, but to brighten the lives of others and love on children like this little boy.

"The" Support Letter.

2009-12-12T12:17:00.000-08:00

Thought you all might enjoy seeing the support letter that I sent out to a few special people!:

Within the last few years, God has been moving in me and shining his light through me in many ways. I have been given a multitude of opportunities through the High School Ministry at Saddleback Church, and those opportunities have helped me grow through Him in ways that I could never have imagined. Ever since December of 2007, my heart for those affected by poverty has grown significantly. It was at the Youth AIDS Summit during my sophomore year of high school, where it all really hit me how grateful we should be with all that we have. When there are families and orphaned children living in cardboard boxes in sewers not but a few miles from where each one of us Americans reside, I continually ask myself, “what am I doing to fix this?” The images of orphaned children give me chills and bring tears each time I see them. When another opportunity arose in my church for a group of high school students to reach out and connect with the inhabitants of Kitale, Kenya, God pressed it on my heart so much that it is where I will be serving in March of the close and coming new year. This trip will enable me to serve God in ways I would have never imagined.

The HSM (High School Ministry) Kenya 2010 team, while in Kitale, Kenya, will have the opportunity to:

- Evangelize in schools, hospitals, drop-in centers, group homes, city streets, churches and prisons.

- Create and run a 3 day summer camp for Oasis of Hope street kids.

- Participate with mobile clinics, training, evangelism, service, worship and outreach.

- Minister in different capacities to students, orphans, street kids, pastors, church leaders, and the sick.

As you can very well see, this trip will definitely challenge me in ways that I have never been challenged before and will also open my eyes even wider to the image of poverty first hand. I am so stoked to see how God will use me on this trip and how he will use our team to impact the people of Kitale.

/// Here is how you can be a part of this opportunity \\\

Prayer/// I would greatly appreciate your prayer support. Many of us know that prayer is the only way that this trip would ever be possible; completely turning everything over to God and letting Him transform my heart as He pleases. Some aspects of the trip you can pray for are:

//Safe travels. –to and from Kenya and also when we are out and about on the streets.

//For the summer camp –that kids lives would be changed by God.

//For the hearts of the team to be in the right place.

//For great conversations to be made within Kitale and also within the team.

//Strength in the midst of exhaustion/Health while in Kenya.

Financial/// If you feel led, I would love your support financially. I need to raise $3000 by December 15th to make this trip happen. It seems so soon, but this deadline is only placed in order to be able to purchase plane tickets at the best rate. Donations can also be retrieved after this deadline and would also be greatly appreciated. This donation is tax deductible. Checks can be made payable to Saddleback Church and for your own tax deduction purposes, please do not write my name anywhere on the check. Please use the blue envelope provided to return your donation to me for the trip and I will make sure that it is deposited in the proper church account. I would forever be grateful for your partnership in this area of my trip. Donations of any amount would be greatly honored and deeply appreciated.

Thank you very much for being who you are in my life…

I will keep you posted with continual information on the trip.

View my blog at cory-matthew.blogspot.com for updates regarding my ongoing

journey through life in addition to keeping you up to date

on how the preparations for Kenya are going.

Thank you so much! Lots of love!!

Cory Tomlinson

“Then these righteous ones will reply,

‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you?

Or thirsty and give you something to drink?

Or a stranger and show you hospitality?

Or naked and give you clothing?

When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?”

“And the King will say,

‘I tell you the truth,

when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,

you were doing it to me!”

Matthew 25: 37-40

support for Kenya!!

2009-11-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

As of today I still need $2,190! we have already almost made a $1000 headway! its awesome! Pray that all the money necessary would be provided in order to make this trip a success for the team and for the hearts of children to be changed while we are there. I cannot wait to see what God does in my life while I am there and I also cannot wait to see what he does in the hearts of my other team mates!

Keep those prayers happening and all will be great! God does amazing things through prayer!

I love all of you!

Caption: The shirt that I am wearing in this picture is the shirt from the 2007 Youth AIDS Summit in which I attended which thouroughly changed my life which I mentioned in my support letter!

Please feel free to comment on these posts even if you do not blog! I would love to hear from the people who are following me on my journey of life. Please please please write a little something in the comment box! you all are amazing!

homecoming '09 Trabucoo!!

2009-11-14T10:45:00.000-08:00

Approximately one week ago minus a few hours.. because the adventure didnt commence until about 4 hours from now, one week ago.. i attended homecoming at Trabuco Hills High School. It was probably one of the most fun dances I have ever been too. The people that were there were amazing, the DJ was what I would call "solid", my date, heather leith, was soo much fun and the places that I found to dance on campus were pure genius.

Lets start from the beginning of the day!

We all gathered at Altisma Park across from the Mormon church in RSM, and we all gathered for the infamous pre-dance session of parents with their ghetto cameras, including iphones, cell phones, point and shoots, then there were about two people with their legit cameras. These two people were my mother and Shannon Leith, Heathers sister. I'll let you judge her amazing photography by the pictures shown below this!

Here is the group!

Pictures included the "throwing of the autumn leaves" picture, the "look like a prairie dog" and also the "plagiarize your shoulder" picture. All turned out to be some quality poses. After most of the group left for Heathers house for food, Logan, Rachel, Grant, Jessie, Heather, and I stayed back and we got to take some awesome pictures in front of Logans bus! While taking these awesome pictures, we were all remenissing of the glorious movie that is Little Miss Sunshine. Oh! did I mention that this was our ride to the dance. Yup. uh huh. riding with some class.

oh and you want to see my awesome date again. yeah?

well here she is!

Please notice the amazing home-made boutenire and corsage that we made for each other for a totally of zero dollars. Im pretty sure ill be keeping that picture of her for a long long time. It is absolutely hilarious!

After an amazing dinner prepared by Rubios, the group all played some intense catch phrase and to wrap up the pre-homecoming festivities, we watched a little gem of a movie of Heather, Joanna, Melissa, and Danya in their third grade highlight video. It was seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen. Heather wore overalls and chokers. enough said. Joanna. well her singing at Christmas time with everyone else playing a key on the xylophone was just precious. Danya just loved to eat, proven by the thanksgiving feast. and Melissa. well that girl just knew where the camera was every single time it was around. It was just great.

We then made our way to the dance. and it was just soo great.

Homecoming 09 THHS. No regrets. none at all!

support letter peeps!

2009-11-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

Soo I just wrote my support letter for Kenya. I am getting uber... yes uber (i feel very tied to my German roots in saying that) excited! I but the address of my blog at the bottom of it so hopefully their partnership with the trip and with me will tie them into viewing my blog! I hope I get more than 2 followers through this. :)

Cant wait to see what God has in store for the HSM Kenya 2010 team this year! I will definitely keep you updated as things occur!

Hosanna

2009-10-27T22:22:00.000-07:00

I see the king of glory

Coming on the clouds with fire

The whole earth shakes

I see his love and mercy

Washing over all our sin

The people sing, The people sing

Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest

I see a generation

Rising up to take their place

With selfless faith

I see a near revival

Stirring as we pray and seek

We're on our knees, We're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean

Open up my eyes to the things unseen

Show me how to love like you have loved me

Break my heart from what breaks yours

Everything I am for your kingdoms cause

As I go from nothing to Eternity

Hosanna in the highest

love it. love life. love God.

Jessica & Kyle were here.

2009-10-25T18:03:00.000-07:00

Hey fellow bloggers, Jessica Raleigh and Kyle Smith here.
Jessica: Hey Kyle, what's up?
Kyle: my name is klyed. but hi.
Jessica: that's cool let's take some time to talk about our good friend Cory..
Klyed: Cory starts with a C. so does cars. i like cars.
Jessica: hm. that's cool. cool starts with a c too, so Cory is cool.
Klyed: carcass also starts with c. if i killed cory, he would be a carcass...
Jessica: well that's completely normal. i'm going to name some things i like about Cory. his glasses that aren't real, his ringback tone, his love for Wendy's. and lots of other stuff.
Klyed: the computer says fraud monitoring is on. FAIL. i dont even like this kid.
Jessica: cool beans. well currently Cory is singing Shania Twain to me and it's beautiful. I'm really happy about that. and well Klyed that was rude. i bet he doesn't like you either..
Klyed: i have 17 friends. and you are not one jessica.
Jessica: well i have a million friends and you're mean.
Klyed: Cory, i love you. Jessica... well.... sorry. im taken. by lawrence.
Jessica: cool. alright. well that's weird. but i love Cory a lot too. and that's why i want to say that he's great! yay!

Well that's all from Jessica and Klyed. Hope you didn't hate this.
yeah. Kyle is stupid. (: that's the point of this post.
oh and that Cory is amazing!

sooo..

2009-10-25T13:13:00.000-07:00

I heard the homecoming group for mission wants to go to costco for dinner...

this has to be a joke.

who ever came up with this idea should be shunned. This is the worst idea in the entire world.

my idea: take industrial pictures at the irvine train station, and then take the roundtrip train to fullerton to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory, which is 100 feet away from the train station across the parking lot! Eat some awesome pasta and bread, not to mention the glorious creamy pesto dressing for the salad. I mean who can beat that. Then we take the train back to irvine.

This is the best idea in the entire world. The END.

Homecoming dates.

2009-10-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Trabuco Hills: Heather Leith

Mission Viejo: Tessa Owens

live it up! sen10rs!!

busybusybusy

2009-10-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

So, I realize I havent updated in a while.. but I also realize that I dont have any readers as well. hopefully that may change.

Ive been a super busy guy the past few weeks. Ive been at the offices at church like everyday and its so awesome to see everyones smiling faces around the church all the time! It excites me to see everyone who works so hard to make HSM happen on the weekends. Also, ive been doing so much stuff for French Club at my school and its been very stressful! Its hard to be the only officer of the club who has experience with how to run the luncheons and all the activities.

Some other awesome things that have happened in my life is this super awesome ministry I am involved in called the Josh Griffin sermon and series ministry team. In this team, we help josh formulate weekend messages and the logistics of how to run the weekend. Its an awesome group of people and we all work together to make the weekend fun and friendly for anyone and everyone who comes to church! Through this ministry, we were formulating a message on forgiveness and we brought upon an idea to write a skit about forgiveness and how it pertains to an everyday person. I decided to take on this project and after a long drawn out creative writing process, we finally had a finished project. The video linked below is the last service that we showed this piece at for the High School Ministry. Who knew such a thing would let God work through the lives of many of my peers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1Wme5WQz5M

thats all for now! hope to hear from some other people on here sooner than later!

some days..

2009-07-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

there are just some events that make me feel down. a bad hair cut is one. :(

super duper.

2009-07-29T01:08:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow. tomorrow. tomorrow.

I get to see heather leith. I am so excited to see this girl! I have not seen her in such a long time. Actually I am pretty sure I havent seen her since the last day of school. That was more than a month ago. I cannot believe that it has been this long without the presence of her own.

I cant wait to hear her awesome stories from Sri Lanka. After seeing all of her wonderful pictures via her mission trip blog, I cant wait to hear the stories first hand. This girl is awesome. I will let you know how it goes tomorrow after the reuniting.

This should be great.

the future is exciting.

2009-07-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

Junior Miss. Ojai. Hillsong Conference.

stoked.

lunch with Kyle should be good today. im off to in n out to strike up awesome conversation with a friend thats just so awesome! can't wait to see what God puts on our hearts to converse about on this fine summer afternoon. :)

Abundant Love.

2009-07-20T00:33:00.000-07:00

I was about to sit down to write this blog about how God has been working through me in the past week.. but im honestly at a loss for words as to how to write it down. His abundant love has surpassed anything words can describe. Ill be back tomorrow to see if i can formulate something a little more descriptive. But for now, know that I am on a spiritual high with God right now and i never want to come down!! :)

I swear...

2009-07-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

... by the moon and the stars in the sky....

but no really. im sorry i havent been able to be on this very often.. well since first semester finals when i got those stress zits. man that was a stressful time! well i hereby promise that i will post morefrequently on this here blog of mine and i will keep you updated on this awesome summer! woohoo!!

SUMMER '09 NO REGRETS

Finals:

2009-01-22T21:13:00.000-08:00

STRESS ZITS

im alive!

2009-01-21T11:33:00.001-08:00

i swear i havent died! i just havent gotten a chance to post in awhile! life has been super busy!!

I CANT WAIT FOR FINALS TO BE OVER!

i really hope i do okay on all of them. this junior year is a killer!

Aside from school. Life has been amazing!

Friends = amazing

Family = amazing

what more can one ask for?

So, i thought i would tell a little synopsis of my friends right now. Basically, as i exclaimed earlier, they are all so amazing. Every single one of them. The difficulty I am currently facing is balancing time between the groups. Sometimes I wish everyone knew everyone and together everyone would get along. no drama. no arguments. Speaking of which, one of my new years resolutions is to stay out of drama. So ill keep everyone posted on my progress with that one. So far it is non-existent! But back to friends, the feeling i get whne i am with these wonderful people is great. After we hang out, there is most definitely a sense of loss. I just wish i could always be hanging out having fun with any of them!

Well. on that tender note, i will leave you with these parting words.

AU REVOIR!

SNOW!!!

2008-12-27T18:00:00.001-08:00

Yes, my right leg is completely straight into the snow right now!!

It was sooo deep! 28 inches to be exact!

This is what I was doing while the others were working and shoveling off the deck.

I mean I could say I was working to entertain the dog (Mocha!)...

This is the BBQ we had to uncover to make the turkey for tonight!

Thats just persepective on how much snow there really was!

Just enjoying a nice snow cone. Hand made.

haha. just having some fun!!

Now this my friends, a hand-crafted tunnel made by the very own Scott Griffith and Chris Tomlinson, yes they dug a trench under the snow that connected on both sides!

Chris had some trouble getting out one time!

More fun in the tunnel!

Tomorrow's project... bunkers for the most intense snow ball fight ever.

Also we will be having a family football tournament!!

Okay, now its time for some Christmas dinner! I love this whole celebrating Christmas twice thing! haha. talk to you all soon!

When I woke up this morning..

2008-12-27T17:41:00.001-08:00

This morning, after sleeping off and on for 15 minutes here and there, this was the beutiful sight to be seen! The snow was still falling! We got about 6 to 8 inches of snow last night. I was so happy to wake up to a day of white.

"It's like a black and white picture in color!"

-Cory Tomlinson

Those were just a few of the multiple pictures I took! Then after waking everybody up, come to find out Santa came again!! As per tradition on Christmas, The Hogle, Griffith and Tomlinson families all have strings tied to our stockingings and the pictures below show how that went! The strings all lead to a present that is from Santa!

All the stocking's were hung by the dining room chairs, in hopes that Saint Nicholas would please remember to come again! (that rhyme scheme was horrible!)

Let me take you on my little blue ribbon adventure.

First, I started out in the dining room with the others, which led me into the piano, out the living room into the family room, into the kitchen, through a few cabinets, under some shoes, then it led me to the freezing cold garage, and then down into the basement, and then through Uncle Craig's woodworking shop, under some bags of soil, up the stairs into the hallway that i began in and then into a small basket behind the Christmas tree!

HAHA. Chris had to go out on the frozen deck, IN HIS PJ's!!

These are just a few of the Nutcracker's in Scotty's never ending collection!

The PJ picture!!

2008-12-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

Can't forget the lovely PJ picture!

From Left to Right: Cory, Scott, Chris, Chelsea

COUSINS

Upon arrival...

2008-12-26T23:38:00.001-08:00

Well, we have arrived safely in Spokane Washington and here are a few pictures to show you what we have done thus far. The events happened as follows:

1) Chelsea and Scott (cousins) picked up the Tomlinson clan from the Spokane airport.

2) Walking outside of the terminal, we approached the first feeling of snow! It was a great and glorious feeling!!

3) Scott drove us to Rocky Rococo's! Only the greatest Pizza Parlor in all of history!

4) We drove home in the lovely snow!! At home we all bonded and caught up!

This is a bridge in Downtown Spokane that was being flouished with snow. It was glorious that we were welcomed with a flurry of snow! There are actually 25 inches of snow on the ground as we speak and it is still snowing!!!!

Just a tree that i wanted to take a picture of! Sorry for the blurriness :/

This is our little present from Chelsea and Scott!

Scott and Holly's creation.. it's the biggest one ive ever seen!!

Oh! Just the glorious deepdish pizza from the lovely Rocky Rococo's!!

Tomorrow Santa is coming again! Gotta love the family! Talk to you all tomorrow!
I love you all and i miss you very much!

Here we come.

2008-12-26T10:06:00.001-08:00

As the Tomlinson family is putting the finishing touches on packing, i would like to take this opportunity to make you all aware of the activities of the day and how bored i will be.

First off, mom wants to leave at 11:30 for a 2:30 flight. I dont know why.

Second, we will fly from Orange County to Oakland, we have a one hour layover and then off to Spokane! Hopefully our flight wont get cancelled out of Oakland due to weather in Spokane area.

PS. There is 26 inches of snow on the ground in Spokane, I dont know if I should be excited or frightened.

ME AND MY BROTHER ARE GOING TO FREEZE!

IT HASNT BEEN ABOVE 35 DEGREES IN 3 WEEKS!!

Upon arrival, I believe the plan is for my cousin Scott to pick us up and then transport us to the headquarters of the Griffith family, otherwise known as, my aunt and uncles house.

I am looking forward to a GRAND trip up in the snow, but I am going to miss all my friends!

If you read this, TEXT ME!! wooo!

You'll here from me daily and hopefully I will have pictures to show you!!

pre-christmas!!

2008-12-24T12:58:00.000-08:00

Well, i havent posted in a while, so I thought this would be a great time for an update! The end of last week was dreadful, utterly grotesque. The work load was crazy and the tests were intense. Stress became a way of life. 2 nights I stayed up until 1 in the morning slaving away on homework. Schools these days i swear. Fastforwarding a bit, last week, around Wednesday, the teachers broke out the truth and layed the huge pile of winter vacation homework on our shoulders. Lets just say that I have more homework over break than I had all last week. This is nonsense. Not to mention some of the extracurriculars that occurred throughout the week last week. On Wednesday, I was asked to take headshots, groupshots, and buddy pictures of the Off the Wall Theater Company at THHS. I was over joyed to do such a wonderful thing. I did it out of the own grace and love in my heart and I believe that through my gift of photography, I couldnt of done it for anything more. In the midst of this photoshoot, I became closer to many of the thespians [yes i really just used that word, bite me] of our own high schools theater company.

Madeline Derenze

Kennedy Ramos

At the end of last week, I began to become better friends with many people. Through the struggle I faced with not seeing my best friends through the duration of the week, I have come to realize that making friends at Trabuco is imperitive. So, I took it upon myself to befriend, or i sould say, further develop, some existing friends. I wont go into the juicy details of it all, but I have come to know and love Kennedy Ramos, Maddy Derenze, and Matt Phillips a lot more than I even did during this break. Seeing them everyday definitely has brightened each day and I hope I am doing the same for them as well. From new inside jokes and very deep conversations, I can see these friendships going a very long way!

On Friday, I was summoned to go to a park and take some pictures with some friends of mine, and some of the results are as follows! The lighting was really bad. We are going ot go have to do another pohotoshoot some time soon!

Lauren Ferik, Grant Jacobson, Cory Tomlinson, Danielle Soltero

Cory Tomlinson, Heather Leith, Grant Jacobson, Melissa Cripe, Lauren Ferik, Kaiulani Bush

Cory Tomlinson

This winter break, thus far, has been utterly amazing. No regrets. seriously. It has been the greatest. Everything has happened for a reason so far, and I pray all this will continue! I am now here to wish everyone a glorious Christmas and just remember the real reason for the season!

PS. You will be hearing from me a lot soon. I will be in Washington so I am sure I will be keeping you updated on all the exciting events while im there! HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas time!!

2008-12-14T14:14:00.000-08:00

So last night some fellahs came over to the Tomlinson fortress and decorated some Christmas cookies!! oh and 1 cookies with the star of David on it. Just so we wouldnt offend anyone. It was a very fun night!!

Pretty amazing what you can do with some dough and frosting eh?

I guess he liked to eat some of the dough..
Oh Tobin..
and please excuse these girl with the red cups.. they went kinda wild.

I mean i told them we would only drink water but they decided to whip out the sparkling cider.

Review: OTW

2008-12-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

Up the down Staircase was fantastic. I truly enjoyed every minute of it. The message was portrayed very well and I think that it was a good message to be brought to the stage of the THHS Little Theater. Maddy did a great job and so did the rest of the cast! After the production i took a voyage to Denny's with OTdubbers and it was very enjoyable. We stayed until about 11:45 and Maddy drove me home. Lets just say that the last hour of Denny's was the greatest. Kennedy, Megan, Matt, Maddy and myself all went outside and we had a grand time. The entire conversation was about laughing and how we think laughing is contagious. It was so much fun. Denny's 08 NO REGRETSS!!

Up the Down Staircase

2008-12-05T17:24:00.000-08:00

So i am about to leave, my home and experience what is known to be called, Up the Down Staircase, performed by Trabuco Hills' one and only Off the Wall Theater Company. I have to admit i am pretty excited to see one of my really good friends Maddy, play the lead in this performance. I will definitely be sure to inform you all of how the result ends up with my opinion of the play. I am excited to say the least. Au revoir for now.

P.S. this is a picture looking up from the inside of a double helix staircase in Le Chateux de Chambord in the Loire River valley of France. It was very interesting!

Commit this to memory.

2008-12-03T21:20:00.000-08:00

Some know "commit this to memory" as a popular Motion City Soundtrack album, but it has multiple other meanings. The picture at the right, I am sure many things come to mind. This is a picture that i took while meandering upon Notre Dame in Paris, France. While I stood there and took this picture for my brother(honestly), the phrase "commit this to memory" came to mind. It was at a point on our wonderful tour that i began to journal about the many situations i was put into and the amazing culture i was being surrounded by. Journaling was my way of committing our wonderful voyage to my memory.

Upon the return to the states, although it was one of the toughest transitions to face due to the differences in the standard of living and such, i knew that through my gift of photography and journaling, i would have the memories of this trip for a lifetime.

Today i was gathering photos for a French Christmas project I have to do, I continued my streak of everlasting nostalgia! It seriously hasn't stopped since I have returned. Everything basically reminds me of Italy and France and the happenings on our trip, and it makes me want to open up my journal again. I actually opened it tonight and began to read. I remember every conversation that was made on all the bus rides, every french person i encountered and especially every gypsy that approached me asking if i spoke english (remembering this is amazing because i was approached by at least 100 of them). I am not sure how i would of remembered all these things without "committing them to memory". Definitely a lesson i have learned real quickly!

It's my first day! so what?!

2008-12-03T17:22:00.000-08:00

So a little friend of mine named heather leith, well she had this status that said that I should go look at her blog. Ha. Then a little switch was flipped to the on position in my brain, and made me remember that i had made one of these a while back. And now, thanks to her little AIM status message all will hear of my thoughts daily!

WOO!

I am super stoked to do this, as lame as it may sound, but as you read this in the future, you may or may not find a few little rants of particular subjects. who knows?

Currently this is my favorite picture that i took while on my voyage in Europe this past summer. This is a very famous aqueduct in France called Pont du Gard! It was so unbelieveably beautiful there! right below the arches in this picture is a very blue river. We all wanted to jump 2000 feet just to plunge into the gorgeous water. Madame Keith said no, so we refrained! I will probably tell some stories of my glorious adventure throughout many posts. I am sure you are very excited! who knows when the next story may arrive. it could be in 2 minutes?!?! who knows!!