RIP Hershey

Well the day has finally come for Hershey. My mom had to put her to sleep a couple of days ago due to some bladder issues, which could be result of some kidney failure. Its been going on for a while but we just couldn't bring ourselves to get rid of her. I got her when she was just a few weeks short of the normal age you take dogs from their mothers. She was already eating dry food and the owner was anxious to get rid of these hyper dalmation/lab mixes. I still remember the day we got her as I was walking home from the bus stop in 8th grade and as I rounded the corner she was sitting in the front yard with my mom and a very large tennis ball. That night I had her in a box next to my bed but hours later she woke up crying until I put her in my bed. When she fell asleep I put her back in the box only to find her crying again when she woke up until she was with me. From that night until I left for college almost 5 years later she slept in my bed. And when I say in, it usually means in. During the winters she was under the covers at my feet...Definitely a California born dog.

Hershey definitely had personality. She was a smart dog. From knowing what it means when I ask her to "get the bug" or "do you want to go for a walk?" or even "where's Cindy?" well, I didn't ask her that one but if anyone else did she would recklessly search the house until she found me.
She definitely also had her annoying dog moments. Like running away as if it were a game as I am late for work. Or knocking over trash cans and spreading them all over my room. Or barking the entire time the mail man is on the street. But she was also the first to give you those eyes and tuck that tail when she knew she had messed up. Then there was her failing bladder. Thank goodness she was our princess dog and would only sleep on blankets because in recent months it has come to the point where she has no control and everytime she sleeps she pees.
I don't think I will ever find another dog like her. It was a fun 10+ years and I will definitely miss her.
Dogs are definitely my favorite animals. Never a dull moment. No matter how many times you have left and returned in a day they are always there to greet you as if you are the prodigal son. They sense sadness and know when to be gentle with a child.

Getting Closer

Well I am definatly closer to being settled then I was a few days ago. Its been a frusturating couple of days with a screwed up map quest to depend on for directions. My clothes are hung. My pictures are on the walls. The books are in their shelves. I have driven around "the beltline" numerous times and pretty much have memorized the two main roads of Creedmoor and that other one that I can picture in my head. As for the job hunt...well its hit many dead ends as I have gotten directions to countless places and have ceased to find any of them. So today I was forced to apply online-it seems very impersonnal but I am sick of the circles I drive looking for these non-existent places. I did go to starbucks today. Could be just the place to get my on my feet and get some money coming in. I spoke with the manager and have an interview on Tuesday. Still the hunt continues for both places to apply and maps to get to them.

Tonight will provide a nice escape from the pressures of finding a good job. I am off to a campus crusade meeting at NC State with Julie and a few other girls. Apparently this meeting attracts 1500 students. Should be a great opportunity to meet people.

I will post some pictures this weekend when my roomates are out of town and I have pleanty of time to get the place properly photographed.

Getting Settled

Well we made it to Raleigh around 11pm Friday night. It was a nice 17 hour drive plagued by road construction and Atlanta traffic. I must say it was a rather exciting drive as we passed through 6 states during those 17 hours. Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and finally North Carolina.

Saturday was a day for shopping and some unpacking. I was able to get a bed, dresser, night stand, and a couple of book shelves mostly all from target. As soon as my room is organized I will get some pictures of the place.

So today is my organizing day and tomorrow starts some job hunting. My computer is being fixed so I will be borrowing for a couple weeks, which could make it hard to blog but will see how it goes.

The Emily Steele Show

More road trip pictures

"Welcome to Arizona"
Cool rocks-I think they were actually in New Mexico but who knows.
Random billboard
"Welcome to New Mexico- The State of Enchantment"
Beautiful New Mexico
Random Billboards sellng wierd things

El Paso, TX

We made it

I was hoping to get some more pictures posted from the begining of our trip but the blogger page is acting up. They will be on here eventually.

Right now we are in Shreveport, Louisiana with my sister and Emily (Jon is at some Air Force school for two weeks in Texas). We are here until Friday so there will be pleanty of time for more posts.

Texas

This could be Mexico, or it could be still Texas. On top of the hill there was a cross, which I was hoping would show up better when I messed with the contrast but Im not sure it did.
Closer to Mexico-that is the flag in the distance
Some pretty clouds that were not so pretty once we drove through the storm they produced.
Welcome to Louisiana!

A New TV Addiction

When I first heard of this new show LOST two years ago I must admit I was not interested. I saw it as another of those silly sci-fi shows that are too unrealistic to enjoy (not that I don't enjoy unrealistic movies or shows I just don't enjoy sci-fi). Yet during the first season all I kept hearing was Amberlee talk about this awesome new show blah blah blah. Well the more she talked about it the more I was interested in it. She liked it so much that I ended up buying her the first season for her birthday. No more then a week later the show was at my house and over the next few months (we were busy) we finally got through season 1.

Well by the time we finished this season 1, season 2 was well underway and because of some strict instructions from Amberlee I did not watch it. I had already missed to much. Lucky for me season 2 came out on DVD last week and my parents have netflix! So for the last 4 nights or so I have been glued to the tv as I try and beat my deadline. The new season won't air until September 21st but I leave in 4 days and would really like to see them all while the renting is free. So I am on disc 4 with 2 more discs to arrive today and the clock is ticking! For anyone who hasn't watched this show its pretty good. I recommend renting it if you can you do have 9 days to catch up on 2 seasons! But don't start on season 3 because too much has already happened and you would be lost from the intro.

Oil Change and other errands.

So I was counting on having this big dramatic story about what happend this time at Board Ford when I got my oil changed...Im not sure if I am disappointed...but the change took a meere hour and 10min. Those of you who haven't been reading my blog missed my tales of two 3 hour oil changes and a free tire rotation. No luck this time with the freebees. I think the worst thing that happened (which is actually pretty bad) is that I was stuck watching the Tyra Banks show.

It was actually a good thing that I finished the oil change "early" because it left time to mail some things at the post office and shower before catching the Corban College vs....shoot well some other Christian College from San Diego. Although the team struggled a little it was nice to see everyone again.

After all these exciting errands where I got to leave the house I remembered that I have been slacking on something....the packing. So I went through a few things only to be distracted by the first time in history: "Monday Night Football Double Header." Horray for the Raiders loosing!

Perfect

I feel like Ive picked the perfect week to leave. On Saturday we were able to go to Don and Judy's 50 wedding anniversary, which was the perfect opportunity to say goodbye to that side of the family. (The picture is my cousin Lindsay and I). I was also able to relive the dreadful days of catering as my mom and I were able to pitch in and help aunt Christy with making sure the food was stocked and punch full. It resembled my old job right up to the yelling and screaming and slave driving that aunt Christy did to make sure we were in line. (just kidding!). After the event I was able to catch the Corban College (Western Baptist), Biola soccer game. Yes its true after 4 years of begging and bargaining my coach waited another 3 and finally brought my old team down to play in Southern California. It was great to see some of the girls that were freshmen when I was a senior (yes I am getting old).

I was also excited for one last week of Church, which not only marked the first week of Sunday school since summer ended but also a Church picnic where I could spend time with a few people and say my goodbyes there as well.

It Begins

With just 6 packing days left and 7 until we are on the road I have really started to crack down on this whole packing thing. Well I will admit I did start going through things a few days ago and getting rid of some old clothes. But now...now its time for business.

The dogs know and as a result spend just about every minute by my side. Actually the first night after I had boxes and bags out to pack, they both spent the night in my room with me, something ususally just Emmy will do.
Yesterday I got an address! I will be now officially living with Julie and Michelle in a 1600 square foot townhouse. We will be roughing it in this 3 bedroom 3 full bathroom space about 15min from NC State. Michelle is moving in today while Julie is still waiting on her stuff to arrive from Detroit. She will most likely be moving in the weekend after I arrive. Oh and you must be thinking how much for this pad?....well thank you North Carolina because its 1015.00 a month! so we will be each pay around $350 a month.

John Spraklin

I wasn't sure if this was really something to blog about but I couldn't think of a better way to ask for prayer. So John Spraklin was my coach when I went to Brazil two years ago. Yesterday his wife, Jenni found him dead in the back yard. Although they had no children, they just came back from Guatemala where they were going to adopt a child since they found out they could no have children.


This is Jenni teaching cruz and I how to cook. We got to know the couple a little better while we stayed at their house for 2 weeks before heading out to Brazil.
If anyone asked me to describe a couple who was deeply in love with each other and God I would have pointed them to the Spraklin's.
So keep Jenni in your prayers tonight as I can't think of a harder situation to be in. Although if there was anyone who could get through this trusting in God as she heals it would be her.

Its Official

I will be leaving for North Carolina on September 16th very early in the morning. My mom and I will drive as far as we can on the first day and then on the second day we will drive to Shreveport, LA where we will stay with my sister and Emily for a couple of nights. Jon is out of town for a couple of weeks so it will be nice to keep her company in his absence. After our stay there we will head up to Raleigh. As of today I will be staying with the new girl, Michelle and my friend Julie in a 3-bedroom apartment. Julie is working on getting out of her lease where she is right now, but either way she will stay with us.

North Carolina

I have realized in talking to people that I have failed to really blog about my change in living situations. As most of you know I will no longer be moving to Seattle. I realized some things as God closed doors and opened much better ones in my life. I was going to wait and blog about my next plans until I was pretty set in what I would be doing but I figure now is as good of time as any. The girl in the picture above is Julie who moved to North Carolina a couple of weeks ago to work for Campus Crusade instead of working with Athletes In Action up in Canada. As I was realizing Seattle wasn't the right place for me right now she was telling me about North Carolina.

The more I prayed about it the more it felt like I place I wanted to be. While I was making up my mind that it was a place I wanted to be Julie found a place to live. A few days after being there she met someone else who is working for Crusade who needed a roomate. So wouldn't you know it through some strange circumstances (this girl has had all sorts of things go wrong with finding a new roomate) I now have someone to live with. Her name is Michelle and as of now we have just met through some phone conversations. She seems like a very cool girl thoughl. She is starting her 6th year of Crusade right now, her 3rd at NC State (she was at Duke for 3 years). I am not worried about it not working out for some odd reason because I feel like these are doors God is opening. So as we figure out the details of my new adventure I will keep you posted. As of right now I am looking at leaving here the 16th of September. Once in Raleigh I will continue my job hunt which is currently getting underway online. I am hoping to work at the Youth Detention Center but I know God will place me where he wants me.

Cal State Fullerton

So my parents bought me a t-shirt from Cal State Fullerton (where my dad now works) but it was just showing a little too much stomach for my taste. My dad had to go pick up his pay check today so I went along to exchange my shirt. Little did I know how difficult this would be for the cashier to grasp. So we go in and I walk to the register with bag/shirt and receipt in hand. I tell the girl I would like to exchange the shirt for a larger size. She stares at me blankly for a second then says "wait.....soooo....you want to change this one for one just like it....but bigger" I politely respond with a simple "yes I would like a larger size" as the lights turn on upstairs she says "ohhhh ok just go ahead and grab a new one." So off I go and unfortunately the larger size is wider not longer, so I must find a whole new shirt. After a couple minutes I find a replacement thinking "this should be good" as I walk back to the girl. Thank goodness there is a manager type girl standing nearby as I tell her I would like this different shirt instead of the too small one. She just stares at the manager. So the manager explains that she should refund the shirt onto our credit card and then sell us the new one. Well we didn't have the credit card so the manager says she will be right back as she goes to get a gift card so she can refund the money on this and then use it for the new one. The original girl just blankly stares. She returns and hands the girl the exchange and walks away. The girl starts to do the refund and then suddenly the lights come on again and she says "ohhhhhhhh I get it." So when she refunds the shirt she has to also take off my dad's 10% discount so that it will put the correct amount on the gift card. Well then she rings up the new shirt and is very confused as she figures we still owe her a couple of dollars. I then explain that she needs to now discount the new shirt....again the lights come on and I see understanding. The new shirt turns out to be a dollar or so cheaper and thank goodness she tells us we can keep the gift card because there is still money on it....she did figure out that one on her own.