the A Bee See's of Me

This was fun... So I decided to do it :)


A - Age: Nineteen

B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: Picking up the dog poopy in the yard :(
D - Dog's name: Nala, Meeka, and Chrissy
E - Essential start your day item: Bible :) or my toothbrush
F - Favorite color: Purple
G - Gold or Silver: Silver
H - Height: 5'7
I - Instruments you play: Piano
J - Job title: Student full time and working at my family business part time.
K - Kid(s): None of my own, but I have a passion for kids!
L - Living arrangements: In a beautiful home, with my even more beautiful family <3
M-Mother's name: Michelle
N - Nicknames: Jewels, Ju, Ju-C, J-CAL, J, Julius.
O - Overcoming: My way of living
P- Pet Peeves: When people respond to a text with "mhm, K" or when people say, "Don't worry about it."
Q - Quote from a movie: Rapunzel: Something brought you here... fate... destiny...

Flynn Rider: A horse...

R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: Beautiful older sister, handsome older and younger brother.
T - Time you wake up: Weekdays 6 AM, Weekends 9 AM if I'm lucky :)
U- Underwear: Very necessary lol
V- Vegetable you don't like: I like all vegetables I think....except cooked carrots!
W - Ways you run late: Wardrobe malfunction
X - X-rays you've had: My wrist, my hand, and my jaw.
Y - Yummy food you make: I can make the best Orange Julius :) but foodwise, I'd have to say salsa :)
Z - Zoo favorite: Owls... Duh ;)

Speak Now

I found my old journal the other night before I went to bed. This wasn't just a journal I used to write daily logs in, but it was just a journal that I kept words of wisdom. Whenever I heard something that was meaningful to me at the time, I wrote it in that journal. If I listened to a sermon and I enjoyed something the Pastor said, I would jot it down in my journal. In the back of my journal, is a hidden pocket.. and in it I kept things that meant something special to me... one of them being a piece of paper my Grandfather gave me at one of his first book signings, the small paper read... "Happiness keeps you sweet, Trials keep you strong, Sorrows keep you human, Success keeps you glowing, God keeps you going." Since that day, I kept those words close to my heart, in losing my grandma especially. 

When I looked through my journal I scanned through dozens of quotes and came across one that made me smile, and I figured I would share...

"Real life is a funny thing you know, in real life saying the right thing at the right moment is beyond crucial. So crucial in fact that most of us start to hesitate for the fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately what I've begun to fear more than that is letting the moment pass without saying anything at all. I think you deserve to look back on your life without this chorus of resounding voices saying, 'I could have, but now it's too late.' So there's a time for silence, and there's a time for waiting your turn... But if you know how you feel and you clearly know what you need to say, you'll know it, and I don't think you should wait... I think you should Speak Now." -Taylor Swift

I really think this quote explains where I am in life right now. Days pass and moments end without me noticing that life is passing me by. Sometimes I hold my tongue, sometimes I let a moment pass without saying how I feel... and then the moment is gone. The crazy thing about life though, is that it keeps on going... it doesn't stop for anyone. We can't pause moments of happiness, or fast-forward through painful ones. There is no re-dos, or skip aheads... there is only now. God doesn't promise us a full life here on earth, he doesn't even guarantee us another day, or even another moment. We've heard a million times over and over again, "Live like your dying"... yet we continue to live without actually living. In the end, we look back and not forward... we look back at our lives and what we did. We all want to believe that we are leaving something good behind, we want to believe that it all mattered. A life without God doesn't matter... This inspires me to live everyday in thanks, for it is by the grace of God that I breathe each breath. 

xoxo,

Jewels

A series of fortunate events

This past weekend was amazing for me. I had the opportunity to go to some really amazing places with even better people. The weekend started off with a night in Perris with Kd and Chris, which resulted in a 4 hour sleep night.... after waking up at 4:15, we headed to LA to visit Pepperdine University. The drive there was more than I imagined, we got to witness a glorious sunrise while singing worship and praising God. The thing I love about these friends I now have, is that I can express my passion for God WITH them... we spent the whole ride praising God and singing to him.

When we finally made it to Pepperdine, we watched the sun rise higher into the sky and our day began. It was filled with a tour of the beautiful school and meeting new people. Following pepperdine, we made our way to Santa Monica to visit the popular Pier. It was Kd and my first time visiting here and it was epic to say the least. We got coffee, walked down the pier, and enjoyed the beautiful day. Kd and I went on a roller coaster which was surprisingly fun... and we took lots of pictures :) As time flew, it was 2:30 and we needed to start heading home to try and beat traffic... but it was useless, the freeway was stopped. The car ride back to Perris was just great, Chris and I took turns driving and let each other take little naps while Kd controlled the music. We blasted Taylor Swift... nothing less than amazing. With about an hour left of our 4 hour drive... I woke up from the backseat and began listening to Kd and Chris' conversation on faith and relationships....We spent that whole hour discussing life, discussing God, discussing relationships... and it made me really think. God has blessed me with these good friendships... I am able to have Chris as a guy friend who encourages me in my faith and shares his passion... People say there is no such thing as guys and girls just being friends, but its SO not true.... I share such a good relationship with Chris, he is my brother in Christ. Kd is my sister in Christ, she encourages me, she prays for me. These are only two of the people God has blessed me with.

After a long drive back to Perris, then home... I rushed to the Homecoming game, but I was so exhausted I didn't even have enough energy to socialize. Today I went to La Jolla with Kd, Alisha and her friend Jillian to pick up some cupcakes for my dear friend Tori's birthday, and it was so much fun.

I finished the day off with Tori's birthday then snuggling up at home alone and relaxing, and talking with a few really great new people in my life. Here are some pictures of my wonderful weekend, God bless!!!

Pepperdine University

Santa Monica Roller Coaster

We lived!!

Probably the most entertaining & silly friendship ever.

My beautiful

A New Revival

Proverbs 3:5-6 reads, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your path straight."

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart" 

What a statement. TRUST... when used as a verb it is stated in the dictionary that trust is to rely upon or place confidence in someone or something. This idea of putting all trust in the Lord is almost immeasurable, like the power of God. He doesn't ask for half of our hearts, or even 99% of it... he asks for it all. He wants our words, our lives, our actions, our eyes, our hearts. Imagine a relationship, you wouldn't want anything less than everything from that person.. you want it ALL, every day, every moment... and sometimes, trust is so much harder than love.

"Lean not on your own understanding"

Understanding, when you thoroughly understand something... it is familiar, it is known. It's like a test in a classroom... In order to have understanding of what is on the exam, you must be familiar with the material. We are God's people, he knows me, he understands me better than I do, and yet I continue to lean on what I feel, what I think. 

 "In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."

Submission: an act of submitting to the authority or control of another. What would it look like if God had control of our hands for a day? What about our mouths and words, our feet, our hearts. How would our lives look different if we allowed God to have control, to have authority or control of our lives... not just our feet or hands, but everything else as well. 

In reading this verse, its familiar and well known to many Christians as are many other verses, yet we just read right past them all the time. It's kind of like life, we become familiar with it, we know it so well and we just let time pass us by. We don't take advantage of small moments, little victories... We wake up in the morning and we are used to a sunrise, we stand outside at night and look at the stars as if they are hardly miraculous... God blesses us with a day, and unless it's wonderfully perfect we don't acknowledge the day in itself. Carpe Diem, "Cease the Day"... Whether there is perfect weather or it is filled with sadness... it is a day that God has blessed us. 

God has blessed me recently, with more than just perseverance... but strength, hope, joy, love, self-control, patience.... He has given me family, and is placing all these people around me to cling to... People who I can share my passion for God with. People who form this barrier around my heart, this bandaid around my wounds... God gave me this life, I haven't earned it, nor will I ever deserve it. Yet somehow, I fight to trust a perfect God. I battle with my head and my heart about which is the right path, and I make decisions without acknowledging him. 

Psalms 34:18 reads, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." This idea of God being close to the brokenhearted... it pulls at my heart. Shouldn't our hearts be broken on a daily basis for God? This life shouldn't be easy, our days shouldn't be insignificant... it should be a battle, our hearts should break on a daily basis so God can mold us. 

In closing, I leave with a song. Songs are expressions of feelings, songs are words from our hearts... worship songs are words of our heart singing to the King of all people. 

We are here, we are now. We are God's people, step up to a selfless faith. Fall to your knees and let God break you. 

Day in the Sun

Well it's Thursday, and I feel like this week is flying by! Probably because I have been so busy... but I have been doing well with not getting overwhelmed with the busy-ness of it all. Yesterday, I had probably one of the best days I've had in awhile. I found out I didn't have work, so I woke up and got ready at my own pace. Once I was ready, Kd came and picked me up to start our adventures :)

We started it off by making our way to Orange County to eat at a place called "FreeBirds" which was like a nicer and cooler version of Chipotle. After we finished, we played around by making glasses out of the foil from her burrito... quite entertaining to say the least :)

After a delicious lunch, we headed to Irvine area to go to Fashion Island... but before we made it there, we decided to stop in Balboa Island since I had never been. Her family owns apartments there, so we got to check those out and it was beyond a beautiful day!

View from their apartments!

We parked and went into a cute little shop that she had to show me and it was sooo adorable. I loved the feeling of the really small town and all the cute little shops to go into. She told me all about her family's story and how they ended up getting those places in Balboa Park. 

After Balboa, we finally made it to Fashion Island to shop around for a little while until we met up with the rest of our group to go to Knott's Scary Farm. I was excited, but also a little indifferent because I went last year with Aaron... but I had to stop looking at the past. It was a good time with friends, I got chased by clowns... of course. But it wasn't as bad as last year... it was overall a really good time, and i enjoyed myself with some good company. I especially enjoyed my day with Kd overall.... it was a total girls day. I have missed having days like that... I have some pretty exciting things coming up! Going to a Hillsong concert in December, Gavin DeGraw in a week, Pepperdine on Friday.... and many other things!! I'm daily asking God to show me where he wants me in this life, and constantly asking him for strength and guidance. If its anything I've learned lately, its that being a follower of Christ isn't easy. It's like giving a speech after someone who gave a flawless and perfect speech.... hard to follow. But he is blessing me left and right, whether it be with friends or with peace in my heart.

God,

Thank you for this life. Thank you for breaking my heart and changing me. I pray that you continue to mold my heart to be more like yours. Give me strength and wisdom, and most importantly give me guidance. Thank you for my family and my wonderful friends new and old... Be with my family in Arizona, more specifically my Aunt... give her strength during the loss of my Grandpa Dave, give her understanding and peace.

I love you,

Amen

Fashion Island <3 

just keep going

I can already feel the busy-ness of this week getting to me. I love keeping my mind occupied and busy with people that I enjoy hanging out with, but I also HATE being too busy. But tonight was a good way to enjoy some relaxing time before this crazy week. I spent some one on one time with Sarah which I hadn't done in a really long time so I really missed it.

Today was an overall pretty good day, went out to lunch with some friends today at the new Chipotle by school and Kd invited Patrick, one of Aaron's friends. Even though I have known Patrick before Aaron ever did, I knew that they are close now and I just felt a little weird about it. I kept a good distance because honestly I wanted to respect Aaron and who he is close with because I would want the same from him. It has been a little hard for me lately because some of Aaron and I's friends clash... so its difficult, but I want to respect him and who he is close with.

Tomorrow I am going to Knott's, which will be interesting but fun... then Friday I am headed to Pepperdine University at 4:30 in the morning, oh joy lol

Lake Arrowhead

Well I am home from an amazing trip. It is incredible how I can drive 2 hours away and feel like I am away from the rest of my life. This past weekend my family and I took a trip up to Lake Arrowhead for a few days and we stayed in a beautiful 5 bedroom cabin right on the lake. My whole family went, including my sister and her family, my brother and Kim, and my brother's friend Joey and his new girlfriend. I knew this was going to be a good trip for me because all I have wanted in the past couple weeks is a getaway.

The first night that we were there I had a bit of a rough time, I was feeling a little down and by the time I got to bed I was just ready to fall asleep. But when I was looking for a nice peaceful sleep, I got the opposite. I had a terrible nightmare.... which was basically reliving a different version of a breakup with Aaron. I woke up feeling uneasy, but asked God to take it away and started my day. That night when all the family finally got to the house we went out to a really nice dinner at a close-by resort, and this is when being "single" kicked in.

We went by the lake to take some family photos, and of course... photos of all the couples. I was surrounded by them: Mom and Dad, Ashley and Dustin, Josh and Kim, and Joey and Lindsey...
I felt alone, and just simply uneasy. And when I finally made it to bed... another nightmare. Woke up feeling unsettled and just hurting again.... so I closed my eyes and talked to God. I talked to him until I could fall asleep.

The weekend there was incredible, although I personally had my ups and downs... It was a wonderful town with great cold weather that I enjoyed so very much... it made me want to come up more often. The drive home was peaceful, listened to some sermons that really helped me.... drove past Aaron's work when I knew he was there at that time so that was a little different for me...But I have a busy week ahead of me... So I am starting it off today with some time with Kd... Going to get our cars washed, grab coffee, and catch up :)

This week I am doing sooo many things, going to Knott's Scary Farm on Wednesday night with Alisha and Daisy, Church on Thursday, and going up to Pepperdine University on Friday to get a full tour of the school, then Tri-City's Homecoming game, and then lastly Tori's birthday on Saturday! AND I get my iPhone on Friday :)

Busy week? Yes... but it's a good busy and I cannot wait to blog ALL about it :)

God Bless <3

Jewels