Stealing a moment

Hi All!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. :)
Can I just say, I miss you all very much? I just have been thinking a lot today about family and friends and I am just so grateful to have you a part of my life. As this school year is coming to an end and I approach graduation and all the post-grad questions...I am just so thankful. Thankful for everyone I have met over the last 21 years. It has been a true blessing.
Sorry to get all sappy for .2 seconds but I had to. I just am so blessed to know the people I do. You guys are STELLAR!! ;) ha!

So....this past weekend I went camping in the desert. Yes..you heard me. The desert. It felt heavenly. 80 degree weather. I was alllllllll about it. We went to Anza Burrego. And the mountains were stunning. STUNNING, I tell ya. The stars...oh man...those stars. I don't know if I ever have seen that many stars so clearly in my life. It was breathtaking. I had such a blast with my friends and exploring. Cooking on the fire, telling stories, walking around, singing loud in the car, sleeping in the back of the truck bed (which was totally on my bucket list by the way, cross another one off that pretty ole' list), stargazing, adventuring around towns, eating Reeses' sticks and drinking juice (aka. Sweet Tea) for some reason Spence likes to call it juice haha. I was cracking up laughing. I had such a blast. There were random metal horses, eagles, wolves, elephants...you name it. Out in the middle of the desert. It was SO random but so awesome. They were giant. So OF COURSE we had to go have a photo shoot by them. It was sick. Then we went to a place called the Salton Sea. It used to be a resort where tons of celebrities and rich people would come to visit. The main body of water came from the mountains in Colorado, the water ran through, until the government cut it off. Now it contains a bunch of salt composites and is super gross. It's really salty water, it reeks death. All the fish die in it and the only thing living around it, are some birds. And I mean some. ha! It was so crazy, what was a a sandy beach was now a bunch of dead fish bones. We walked on fish bones. It was insane looking but super pretty all at the same time. I know, how could death be pretty? I don't know, but it strangely did. Needless to say, the photogs were having a ball there. They were loving all the photos they could take. It was a great memory made here in Cali. Loved every minute of it.

I'll share some with you.

On the ride home, I couldn't stop thinking about God as I looked around me. All the beauty. I saw a TON of it this past weekend. I had to ask Kayla for a piece of paper from her journal she brought and pulled out my pen from my bag and just started writing in the car. I had to. This is what I wrote:

"Saturday afternooon, it's 3:18 pm with the windows rolled down in a silver pick up truck, driving through the valleys of the mountains. Surrounded by God's beauty. Turn after turn. Leaning from one side to the other. Left, right, left, right. Sliding as the car wraps itself around the tight turns of the valley. Country music blaring, Spence lightly singing in the background, cool breezes blowing through the cracks of our window. The journey. The mountains. The GREEN, we are surrounded by. Passing sharp turn signs every few minutes. Ups and downs, choices in direction. This is the painting of a beautiful picture. This is an adventure. Right now...as I am writing in the middle back seat with a large red canteen in between my legs, (which isn't too comfortable, Ha), our "trash bag" blowing in the wind, american flag bookbag and all...all I can think about in this exact moment is you Lord. I've heard people say when you take a picture it is like you are stealing a moment of time. What if this is a moment of time that was intended for me to just recognize but not take a picture. The picture was right before my eyes. I just needed to look around. Look for you. That's all I needed to recognize you. You captured my moment. You stole it. But by..YOUR CREATION. What defines you. This picture is perfect in this moment. The loving nature of your presence. Being surrounded by friends. The simplicity of a drive. The road can lead you anywhere. I choose the road that leads to you. Lord, I you to know I always want to choose you. Taking a pause to think where would I be without you in my life. I just want to stop and say a simple, I thank you, yet the thank you, has 1,000 reasons behind it. And how the song says right now..."how sweet it is to be loved by you".
This is to capturing moments.
Keep capturing.
xo-Lyndsie"

That is all for today. Allow God to capture some moments for you, instead of worrying so much about capturing your own. Before him lays the perfect moments.

LOVE YOU ALL A TON!!
MISS YOU.

ps. the west coast says hello.  ;)

-Lynds

Choosing joy.

My oh my...it's been a long time.

Hope everyone is doing wonderful.
Happy Palm Sunday by the way :)

So, where do I start?
So much has happened since I last posted.
I visited home, Mount Vernon, threw a Bridal Shower for my best friend, my brother visited me in Cali, Keel and Shanelle visited me in Cali, tons of new adventures, tons of new learning experiences.
I wish I could write about them all but well...if I did that..we would be here for a while. LONGGG while, because, well...if you don't know me well, I talk a ton. ha!

I'll start with what God has really spoken into my life about this past week. Such cool things have happened that just get me so pumped about life. I left for home two weeks ago, really just missing everyone and really feeling like I never left. It was wonderful, I wasn't quite sure how I was going to feel about coming back to Cali. Yes, I totally love being here, but everyone has their moments of homesickness and a lot of other emotions running through. So, I was having one. I flew back to Cali which may I add, I flew FIRST CLASS. Raspberry cheesecake, pillows and all. Catch..I had no idea I was paying for it. Yeah, that is a story for another time but I flew back and was so curious about how the rest of my last semester of college was going to be like. I journaled a ton on my 5 hour flight from Philly to San Diego. Curiousity was filling my mind. So, Seth and I arrived around 9 pm in San Diego and were so tired. That week was FILLED with tons of fun moments. We went to Sea World for 40 cents, such a good deal that we like to keep under the radar ;) and we went to the zoo, tried a new mexican restaurant like every night, went to Old Town, Gas lamp district, the harbor, the Cliffs, beach...etc. Last but not least, I finally crossed another item off the bucketlist...Surfing.
That's right, I surfed. So much fun, I was such a big baby at first, trying to stay in the channel so I didn't have to risk getting rocked by a wave. Finally my friend Spencer and our surf "coach" haha, pushed me into the wave and was like GO. So, I paddled as hard as my arms could move, because at that point my arms were like twizzlers that could just be flopped around, and jumped up so quick and yes..I rode a wave for like 10 seconds. ha. It was great. I got up three times. Doesn't sound like much of an accomplishment to you? Well let me tell you, surfing is not the easiest sport, at all. I need to give some credit to all my fellow surfers out there. It is tough, and I was only out in 2-3 ft waves. Try the 6+ ft waves. No thank you. Keel, Seth and I had such a blast out there. We rented our wetsuits and man, those suckers helped me out because I get cold SO easily and I wasn't cold much at all until the last 30 minutes we were out there when I would sit in the channel for a second and take a break. P.S incase no one knows what a channel is (and no worries, I didn't either until they told me). It is the part of the ocean that is calmer. Waves tend to shift and there is always a part that is more calm and waves aren't coming in on that part of the sea during that period of time. Channels always shift. Learned that one, when a wave came in and knocked me off my board haha! Best part was every one stood up on their board at some point which is an accomplishment to us, non-surfers. I definitely can not wait to go again. I had such a blast, but definitely was exhausted after.
Here are a few pictures to showcase our surf photog sesh.

That is just a few. But It was such a blast. I am so glad Seth and Keely were able to be a part of crossing that item off the bucket list. I also crossed off a few more. Trying out the Coyote Mexican restaurant, running to OB and eating a Acai Bowl, Antinquing in OB, walking the pier, go to the San Diego Zoo, pull an all nighter, eat breakfast by the beach. It was awesome. I had such a blast. That was all in one week I crossed those off. It is so awesome to see more and more get crossed off. Last night I went to a drive-in movie theater right on the border of Mexico basically and got a funnel cake. How awesome. Ohio, take some advice from the west coast...serve funnel cakes at the drive-in. I also climbed on top of the roof of the Gym and watched the ocean and just had an awesome talk with a good friend. I snuck into this tent that over looks the entire city and harbor and talked until 4 am with a friend and just talked about life. I also tried Baskin and Robbins ice cream for the first time. I know, crazy, but we didn't have one by our house and I always saw the commercials offering the cool Shrek ice cream and never was able to try it as a kid. It was torture! So to finally be able to get it, made my day. haha! I am such a child sometimes but hey, I think that is a good thing at certain moments in life.

So, to say all this..I am realizing that God had a reason for me to come out here. I am stretching my mind, I am learning more about myself, I am growing up some more. I went to chapel on Friday, which desperately needed to happen, I had missed way too many so far and let me tell you what, God couldn't have made it more obvious to me that I needed to hear that, Friday morning. A young woman named Megan spoke and she was full of energy and passion. She was so into what she was about to say and I thought it was cool when she said, "Hey, I am going to pray for you guys, not because I have to or because it is what I am supposed to do in chapel but because I want God to speak through me this morning when I am speaking to you. I want it to be about his words, not the words that I think you all need to hear. I do not know better than him. Can I please pray for you?" It was just so cool, the way she started that off. It really caught my attention. How much do we think we know what the best advice is or statements we think people need to hear? All the time. As humans, we like to give ourselves the credit because it is so easy to do. She goes on by saying how when she was younger and throughout college she had her "joy/hope cup". She would drench people with love , compliments and encouragement. She would just go around loving on everyone but hoping she would get that same love back. She saw it as, she was filling up people's joy cup and then holding her's out for everyone to fill up back. She said she relied on people's words and what they thought of her. She cared so much about what other people said, that, that was where her joy came from most times. She said that when people wouldn't give it to her or would say negative comments about her, it would crush her world. She would be like what is wrong? What did I do? and then give over it and move on to other people who could fill her joy cup. She would just always make it a mission to fill other people's cups up so that in return they would say nice things about her, and essentially would fill her cup back up. The problem is when we rely on everyone elses opinions of ourselves, we are making our self worth based on what other's think of us. It ends up being nothing about our true worth.
She goes on to say that she had to realize one day that if she can just raised her cup up to Jesus instead of reaching it out to others, her cup would overflow with God's love which in return she would be able to drench others with HIS love, not her own. And that because her cup was filled with God's love, she wouldn't need everyone else's all the time. She wouldn't need to rely on their words. She said that it was hard to do because she was such a people person and loved being around people all the time, she felt like it was her duty to do all those things and try to "fix" people's problem and issues because that was what a good friend did. No. Not true.
She then proceeds to say, stop getting your confidence from people who will never be permanent and never be able to satisfy all your needs. No one can do that. Not your family, not your boyfriend/girlfriend, not your friends, teachers, pastors...NO one.
This completely and utterly hit home for me.
I don't know how many of you reading this blog know everything I have been through the past few years but that is exactly what I did. I relied on words.
I believed my self-worth and confidence was based on what other people said about or thought of me. If people said good things, than of course my confidence is going to go up and you feel like, okay..I am on the right track doing the right things.
Did I know I was doing this at the time? No way. Slowly God is revealing to me what I did and man did he hit home a little more that Friday morning. That was me. I did the same thing that woman did. I didn't even fully know it, but that is what I did. That is why I was crushed by the words of others at one point. That is why it felt like my "world" quote on quote was coming down around me. But it wasn't. God was always there. He is so faithful and so good.
I LOVED hearing that story that morning and the thing is...it got better.
She then proceeded to tell us a story about her grandmother and how she asked her 94 year old grandmother to be a bridesmaid in her wedding. Her grandmother agreed and about 2 weeks later, she got a phone call from her dad saying her grandmother had a stroke and was in the hospital, basically on her death bed. Her dad told her to still go to work and go on with her normal day and she did but definitely didn't want to. She wanted to be with her grandmother, naturally. She went work, which was at a college. She was a professor at another Christian college in California. She walked in to her class and saw how all her students were just walking in, like it was any normal day. That everything was fine but to her, it wasn't. She was angry, didn't want to be there. She then decided to take all of her frustration of the main situtation on her students. haha! She throws her papers on the ground and says, this is not what we are learning about today. You guys all walk in like everything is normal, that everything in life is okay. Well for me it isn't. My grandmother is basically on her death bed and I am realizing that I have never personally had a talk with her about the gospel and about Jesus. Yes, she is a Christian but how much does she really know about Jesus? Do you guys know? Who can tell me what the gospel is? No one answered, and then she ended up calling on a boy. He didn't know. Another girl didn't know what to say. Then a boy stood up and said, my life is crap but the gospel is about Jesus who thinks our crap is worth something and can save us from it.
He didn't have these perfect words to say or couldn't quote the Bible word for word. He just spoke of what he knew and what was truth.
He did't pretend he had everything together. He said, hey, my life can be filled with crappy situtations and I don't make the best decisions all the time but yet, God still thinks I am worth saving.
So, Megan told everyone that she wanted to teach them about the Gospel and had them open up Romans,chapter one.
Things I learned from this chapter:

1. Comparisons are the theif of joy. ( Well said C.S. Lewis)
2. Have more conversations with God, he holds the truth.
3. Why did God have to die?
1. He died because the wages of sin is death and death need to be paid and God says we are the dead things, and he is the only way we can be brought to life. Not just literal death but spiritual death as well.
4. If your life is defined by relationships to people, than no wonder you are able to fall a part

If  you  step into life with God, you do not break.

How cool is that to think about?

I don't know about you, but that was so cool for me to hear because as humans and especially being a girl and on top of that, such a people person...it is so easy for me to compare and put so much into friendships and relationships with other people.

I read in Mark 11 today:

"...include everything as you embrace this God-life, and you'll get God's everything."

 

I don't know about you, but I have seen what embracing the God-life is, and joy is very prevalent in that life style and today..I am choosing joy.

P.s. Sorry for the novel-like sermon. I just thought it was the coolest thing to hear this week. Hope you have a wonderful week, and Easter. :)

 

xo-

Lynds

 
 
 
 

Adventure time

Today is stunning.
Completely and utterly stunning.

It is around 4:30 pm and I am sitting on a cliff that looks like the tip off the boat Kate and Jack were standing on in the movie Titanic. ha! It is overlooking the entire ocean. It's beauty is insane. It's been around 77 degrees all day. Last night was quite the adventure, got in a car with four other people and just went. We had no plans, just would drive until we saw something cool or thought of something while we were driving to stop by and see. On the way, we hit up Starbucks to get some caffeine in our systems in case this ended up being a long night. We ended up at our first stop, a parking garage next to the airport. Spencer went and asked the guard to go to the bathroom and from there, we snuck in and ran to the top of the garage and could see THE BEST view of the city and the harbor. All the sudden we see lights heading towards us and then vooooom..a large plane is flying over our heads. Literally. The planes land right next to the garage, so cool. The planes look like they are going to hit you, they are so close. It is so cool to see a plane so close to you. They are so massive. I was probably just as pumped watching the planes fly over our heads as a little boy would be about winning all the levels of his first video game. ha!
We just sat there and watched one after another after another. It is so crazy to think about the exact precision of landing one after the other. They all come in packs and land within five minutes of the other. It is so cool. Eventually we got kicked out because a customer complained haha I'm such a hoodlum..let me tell ya. But hey...it was fun while it lasted.
Then we went to Balboa park and hopped on their amphitheater stage to perform some Destiny's Child "Say my Name", Aladdin, Spice Girls "Wannabe", Backstreet Boys "Larger than life" and Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder and Lead". haha It was great. Kristin pulled out some great dance moves and we just had the time of our lives.
The night continued with walking up and down the streets, sharing stories and cracking up laughing.
Of course, McDonald's McFlurry's were up next, Reese's for this girl. We then decided to head to Jillian's and watch Perks of Being a Wallflower and our night ended around 3 am. It was such a chill night but so much fun all at the same time. Got to hang with new faces and just have fun being spontaneous, even if we did stay in the San Diego area.
I tell you what, some of my best memories are the ones where we just hopped in a car at midnight and drove to see someone or do something or just drive until we do. I live for those moments. When it is a random group and we just all decide to go on an adventure with no itinerary. We almost up and went to San Fran for the night. 8 hours. But it would have been such a blast. We decided last minute we wanted to sorta plan a weekend for that one though because we wanted to be able to stay the entire weekend if we went. So, that's next on our list.
This weekend has been full of new friendships and hilarious moments.
I am so blessed by the adventures God allows us to take part it. That's right, allows us. It's because of Him we are able to partake in the best ones around. I wrote in my journal the other day a quote from that book I've talked about on here before, called "Love Does". I think it hits home for this week.

It says: "I don't think the book of life is the full equation and I don't think that it is just a list of names either. I think this book of life is a book of lives, a book of stories. I bet it's about people traveling in the direction of Jesus, trying to follow Him. People like me, who've made lots of mistakes and mid course corrections. It's about people who stayed within the large circle of love and grace, staying on a long line pointing towards Him. And their names weren't in the book because of what they did or didn't do. They were there because of who God is and what he has done to draw a circle around them. After we cross the finish line in our lives, I see Heaven as an experience where God will be proud when we crossed that line and will say something similar to " Friend, it's been a long journey. Welcome Home".
 I think this quote hits home for me, OUR LIVES ARE AN ADVENTURE.
God wants us to have fun. He wants us to trust him, he realizes that sometimes we make mistakes and we take stupid paths but as long as we stay within his circle and always run toward him and are always striving for that, we will be okay. I see God as being one amazing God. One who loves us. One who is the author of our lives. Each written differently. Each having it's own tragedies but always ending in a beautiful story. This is why I live for those spontaneous adventures. I am living. REALLY living. No plan. I am just enjoying where I am at and trusting that whatever lies ahead of me, will be worth while and God has control. I'll just sit, and relax in my passenger seat and be excited for what's up next.

 

Performing "Say my Name"

& yes...Spencer knew all the words haha

Dancing at the Amphitheather

Japanese Garden

Spence trying to climb and ride the horse haha

 

Happy Sunday. Hope everyone had an amazing weekend and hope that at some point this week, you can all just let go and trust God in a moment and be a part of your adventure :) It's worth it.

 

xoxo,

Lynds

I am going to be ______.

Time is just flying right on by.

I have to admit, the fact that it is already February, is scary. haha! I am literally graduating in exactly three months from tomorrow. AHH! I am about to be a big kid and I still do not have a job lined up yet or have any idea where I am living and that just scares the crap out of me. I have to admit though, living in California has really helped me gain a bit of perspective. Everyone here doesn't think as much as we do back home (obviously this doesn't apply to everyone). People here just do.

I come in contact with new people every single day. I feel like with every new person; I meet a business owner at the age of 20, 21, 22, someone who has traveled to a few different countries or has maybe even lived there, I have met someone who has big dreams and just doesn't second guess it. Or maybe they do but they still just DO it anyway.  I like to worry about all the logistics. All the but "what if this happens.." or " what about money?,  where am I going to live? what if it ends up not working out...etc?" Here that doesn't seem to chase them away from actually making what they want to happen...HAPPEN. I have two roommates that are moving to foreign countries after graduation. One to Europe and one to Australia then to Africa. Neither girls are scared. They want the adventure. One of them isn't going in with much plan. She is getting her visa, saving money this school year and summer, is going to find a job in Australia and live there for a year. She doesn't even care if she works in a coffee shop. It's the fact that she is living. She is experiencing. She is taking chances. She. is. doing.

I have a few friends who own businesses and when you get them talking about it, it is just pure excitement. They understand that they can fail. They get that it might not work out. The thing is, at least they tried. They had a vision, a dream, a mission whatever it might be, and did it. They didn't want to question "what if?" they wanted to see first. It's interesting to me because I have always seen myself that way yet, living here for a month, I realize I am not much of a "doer" as I may have thought. I let my fears and worries hold me back. But I did take one leap recently and that was coming to California, for my last semester of my senior year of college. I knew absolutely no one; it definitely scared me, terrified me really but I still did it. I have been reading a book called "Love Does" by Bob Goff. If you haven't read it before, I highly recommend it. He is a Christian lawyer who talks about how God's love does.
Who cares if you fail at things? You learned something along the way and AT LEAST you took that leap of faith. Just like God asks us to do with him. He just says, Lyndsie, I know giving everything up to me is scary, I get that, but I promise it will be worth your while. You might not know what is going to happen along the way. You won't have an itinerary to tell you what's next, what to prepare for but isn't that the exciting part? God wants us to enjoy life. Do what you love to do. Explore new hobbies, try them out, you fail. Oh well, you tried and now you know to try another one. Plus, I am sure you have some killer stories along the way. Being in California is teaching me to really think about what I want to do, and honestly sometimes the thought gives me anxiety haha! Because I don't know. There are sooooo many things I could see myself doing or wanting to tryout at some point in my life but feel like well man, I am not the best. I really enjoy it but so and so is better and I can't do it like them. It's like I talk myself out of it. It's crazy talk. God wants us to live a joyful life he states in Ecclesiastes 15.."so I commend the enjoyment of life....joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of their life God has given them under the sun". Life is way too short to not try. I had a friend I met here say to me, "Lyndsie, this is how it is going to go. You are going to go home, graduate, move back to San Diego, meet my friends, help start this boutique with them, rent the space and just go, then help lead worship here with me at church and just see how it goes." He acted like it was just so easy, the thing is, you knew he knew it wasn't but he would take the chance. He would just do. I wouldn't know until I try. Failing can be good for the soul. It helps you gain perspective.

These past four years of college have not been the easiest for me, I have learned so much about myself along the way, have made SOOO many incredible memories and met many incredible people. I can say I have been and am blessed to have what I have and have had. I was looking at old pictures from freshman year of college and MAN, time does sure fly. But, I have come a long way since then, so much has happened. I can't only imagine what is to come. All I do know is, that my future includes "doing and being". Being intentional with time, the Lord, my friends, family, others, work, etc. I am going to be....__________. Not sure yet but, God, I believe you have this under control, right? :) Still working on giving it all up. It's scary but I want to see what God has in store because I'm sure it's better than anything I could have ever imagined for myself. I know these past four years have. They have shaped me.

It's time for a throwback:
This was my first year at MVNU

First week of school with Em and Bec

Roommate love with WIFIFI haha

First night out with the girls to Polaris

The start of the piercing obsession for all of us. Em got her nosed pierced.

First lottery ticket with Rando. Won a dollar back haha!

Kels, Ali, Em and I

Halloween for the community. Dressed up as princesses to pass out to the kids at the dorm.

Halloween 2009

Dill and Kay came up to visit

New years at Morgan's

First new years in college

The endless basketball games we loved to go to

Girls night

Dress up like Cedarville, our rivals

More basketball games...

Celebrating Bec's 19th Birthday

 \

Karaoke Tuesday

Saw my first John Mayer concert :) :)

Celebrating Bri and Mike's birthday

First Block Party at the Vern

Karaoke night

hahhaa! Gotta love our random adventures with Nate, Travis and Ali

Last night out at OSU before the summer

Free tickets to the Paramore concerts thanks to the lovely Kayla and Caleb

Threw a surprise 21st birthday :)

Celebrate Mike's life

hahah one of the mannny pranks we pulled in Pioneer

O-H-I-O

The first time I met my new best friend Ang

Roomies

We scared off our Breakway girls

Tanning trip? haha yes we fit 8 people in a car

Hillbilly Bowling, freshman year

Alex's 21st birthday party

First picture after move in day

First week of school

 

Oh my...I have so many more photos. But that is enough for now. That was freshman year and now I am about to graduate again. I hope I don't look like Kim Kardashian  when she cries, on graduation day. haha!

 

p.s. Sorry for the long novel :)

 

Blessed today.

 

xoxo, Lynds