288 months OLD and 23 trips around the sun!

Surfing in Australia

Cape Town, South Africa

Semi-Finals of the World Cup. Netherlands vs. Uruguay

African Safari.

Quarter Finals Argentina vs. Germany....Vamos Argentina!

South African Safari!

Magazine Photoshoot! We're FAMOUS!

Sydney Tower, We were in the Sydney Newspaper here!

Sydney, Australia

Skydiving!

Ice Climbing in New Zealand

Bungy Swing, New Zealand

Skiing in the Swiss Alps!

24 years old today!  I remember when I was 18 thinking…man, 24 year olds are so old, and yet here I am reaching old age and loving every minute of it!  I have decided I really like birthdays, because it means I went through one more year of learning from my stupidity and realizing more and more that I really don't know much.  At 18, I thought I knew alot and had life figured out....so now, I can look back respond back to my 18 year old self..."oh yeah, well I think 18 year olds are stupid because you already know everything!" I just pray that each birthday I can look back at the last year and see growth in wisdom and humility!  So conclusion, Birthdays are great! My life completely changed last year, so I'm challenging 24 to try and beat 23! 

I pulled a few photos from my life this last year to remember the crazy adventures of 23! I can’t believe I was able to surf in Australia, go on an African Safari, attend a few world cup games, skydive, bungy and ice climb in New Zealand, and ski in the Swiss Alps!  I look at the places I have been and it really feels like I completed a life time bucket list in one year!  I have learned so much from these adventures like Learning more of what it means to be in awe of the Creator. Watching the violent waves crash against the shores of Australia and Africa and sitting in wonder of the power and majesty just in His pinky.  Or noticing how the mountains of Switzerland and the Sunsets of New Zealand seem to be God’s way of exclaiming “This is mine, this belongs to me!” that Creation is pointing to a creator and then in turn having a desire to not be out done by a rock.  Learning what worshiping as a lifestyle looks like and learning about fear of the Lord.  While on the African Safari, the Lion demanded my attention.  I couldn’t keep my eyes off of them, there was a fear of them but not in a oh crap that animal could destroy me sort of way, but a fear as in an awe inspiring, powerful sort of way.  The term “Lion of Judah” was brought to life!

Yes, I have seen a lot of cool things this year and I feel extremely blessed, but all of those things fail in comparison when placed against the fact that I was able to know God and make Him known among the nations!  The other things were almost worthless in comparison!  The adrenaline rush fades, the soccer team I love so much will lose, the snow will melt, but the word of the Lord is eternal.  The things I was able to see God move and restore and renew was so much greater than I could ever describe on paper!  The friendships I have made this year and the people I have grown to love is what I will look back at in 50 years and remember how life changing 23 was!  I pray that next year, I will look back at this point and get to pray “wow, God, I thought I knew you then.”  That God would continue to reveal himself and overwelm me with his love that I can’t help but share it with others!  Here’s to the 24^th time around the sun! OLE!

Tech Girls Reunion 2010

Here is a video I made of our recent Texas Tech Girls reunion...it is amazing to know that through the years there will always be friends that are there for a season and then gone the next, but then there are those rare friendships that are created in a crucial point in your life and through each season of life, no matter where you are in the world, you know they aren't going anywhere...that is what these girls are to me! I love yall!

A Merry Christmas to everybody! A Happy New Year to the world!

"Good news of great joy that will be for all the people" -- Luke 2:10 
To My friends around the world!


Swiss/German/Pennsylvania Dutch friends - Froehliche Weihnachten
Danish Friends - Gladelig Jul
Finnish Friends - Hyvaa joulua
Brazilian Friends - Feliz Natal 
Korean Friends - Sung Tan Chuk Ha
South African Friends - Een Plesierige Kerfees
Venezuelan/Argentinean/Mexican/Spanish friends - Feliz Navidad
Chinese Friends - Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
French Friends - Joyeux Noel
American/Canadian/Australian Friends - MERRY CHRISTMAS!


I love yall and miss you!  I hope next year will be your best year ever! 

The Power of Your Name.

Surely children weren’t made for the streets
And fathers were not made to leave
Surely this isn’t how it should be, let Your Kingdom come

Surely nations were not made for war
Or the broken meant to be ignored
Surely this just can’t be what You saw
Let Your Kingdom come, here in my heart

And I will live to carry on compassion
To love a world that’s broken, to be Your hands and feet
And I will give with the life that I’ve been given and go beyond religion
To see the world be changed by the power of Your name

Surely life wasn’t made to regret
And the lost were not made to forget
Surely faith without action is dead
Let Your Kingdom come, Lord break this heart

Jesus Your name is a shelter for the hurting
Your name is a refuge for the weak
Only Your name can redeem the undeserving
Jesus Your name holds everything I need

Suicide PSA Choose Life

Hey everyone! Just wanted to write yall and let you know a bit of what we have been doing these last few weeks. We started on a group project and were told to choose from 4 different topics. Our group chose the topic of Suicide in Switzerland. We did a research paper the first week and looked deeper into the fact that Switzerland being extremely beautiful and rich is actually in the top 20 of most suicidal country and number 6 regarding men and suicide. The research was really difficult to study because of how dark the subject is, but what we found was really amazing. The research paper is long, so I won't post it, but if you are interested in reading it, let me know and I can send it to you. After we wrote the research paper, we had to do a flyer, poster, video and web design related to our topic. We chose to encourage those who are in pain, or those who are suffering with thoughts of suicide. Our name was "Choose Life" and our slogan was "The world is not the same without you." Above is our video made for the project. Spread it around and send it to whoever you know who might need to know that they are needed and wanted in this world. That they matter and without them, it is just not the same! Our group also made a web site www.wix.com/chooselifeicd/home. I wish I could show our flyer and poster, because we found this cool paper at a hardware store that is reflective and on the paper we have our saying "the world is not the same without you" and when you look at the paper it is a mirror and shows yourself. It was so cool! I wish someone would take this and make it an actual campaign!

So, it was great to finish our project and think wow, three months ago I would never have thought I could have created something like this and it was really cool how we learned how to create with God. We would constantly pray and listen to what God had to say about the subject and read in his word and hear his voice on where to go. I am so thankful for these last 3 months! I am also SOOO excited to go home for a month and be in Texas for Christmas. Then I will be going to England for 2 years and helping with the Olympics outreach in London 2012, but more on that as it gets closer :)!! Once again, I am so extremely blessed to have you around the world praying for me and supporting me! I think I have learned more about my passions in these 3 months than my entire life! It has been an exciting, frustrating, busy, sleepless, fun, crazy, adventurous time I will never forget! If any of you want some Swiss Chocolate, write me and I can bring it home! Thanks for everything!!

Thanksgiving 2010 YWAM

So this week was Thanksgiving week and it was really sad to be away from my family on Thanksgiving day. All my family gathered together in Stratford, Texas and I celebrated thousands of miles away. It was difficult being so far away, but we celebrated in our own way on the base! First, I made a Thanksgiving Video for our base, we learned adobe premiere and adobe after effects and it was really great for me to learn more about video editing...you can check it out here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYyIArG2ti8

The next thing we did was we had a huge thanksgiving feast and then hid about 600 paper turkeys around the entire building and had a race to see who could find the most turkeys in 5 minutes...It was a mad house around here and people were using some great basketball blocking out moves! It was crazy! Afterwards there was a down pour of snow, so we all went out and started what I will say is the greatest snowball fight I have ever been apart of! Each side had strategy and tactics and plans of attacks, so it was so much fun! Today we woke up and went to a print shop and communication museum in the capital of Switzerland. It was an awesome day and we ended with coffee at a small village that looked like a christmas north pole. It was the coolest town I have ever seen, covered with snow and had a castle. No words can describe how beautiful it was! Tomorrow we are going skiing to complete an amazing Thanksgiving week! I have not been out of the base these 3 months because we spend about 12 hours a day in the classroom designing and learning, so it will be nice to take a break before we start our final project. For our final project we will be researching and making a print project, web project, and video project over one current event subject in Switzerland. Our team is doing a project over suicide in Switzerland, because it has one of the highest rates in the world. It will be interesting to interview people on this issue and find out why one of the prettiest and richest places in the world feels so hopeless. I am excited about going deep, but it will be a crazy crazy 2 weeks, and then that means I am going to be home for Christmas!!

Something else, I have been officially accepted to Staff for Ywam Harpenden, England! I will be co-leader of the olympic sports outreach team. We are planning on having 10,000 people to direct and place and house around England for 2012. I am also helping with the design team and creating graphics, print projects and videos, so I'm excited about that! YAY! Well, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you guys all know how thankful I am for you and your support, it really means EVERYTHING to me!

Photoshop!

This week, we learned a crash course in Photoshop!  I probably spent around 10 hours a day in the classroom just playing around with the tools and experimenting with different blending tools.  It was cool starting with a black page and adding colors and paint brushes to achieve a look I wanted.  There is still so much to learn, but I love it and I can't wait to get better!  This week we are starting in webdesign, and the following week is VIDEO!! I'm so excited about the video week!  Also, this week, I am going to see two of the Swiss guys from my DTS, so it will be great to finally get out of this classroom and explore Switzerland a bit!