Grandpa.

Grandpa,

I will miss you.

I will miss your comments on my blog posts and the way you would encourage

me like no one else could. Praise the Lord you are with Him now! 

I love you Grandpa.

love, Amie 

happy 27th birthday to my brig bro D! 

....and on another note...I have decided to deactivate my facebook again. My roommate Katelyn mentioned to me that she deactivated hers to get as many distractions away as possibly (She is graduating in December) and I was inspired. I then referred back to THIS POST and THIS ONE too...to remind myself of what it was like to be facebook freeeee! Its quite liberating and I am thankful that I have the time to really focus on being present with people, time to work on the many papers and assignments I have, and just enjoying everything that is happening around me! So dont look for me on fb...its my time away from that world...ahhhh so nice.

laguna.

sweet sweet Kelli invited a bunch of us girls over to her (beautttifulll) home in Laguna

for a weekend away. The weather was P E R F E C T and we had the best time

cooking dinner, watching a chick flick, playing games, lounging at a "members only"

beach *yup...and eating the best acai bowl I have ever had. 

pretty impressive...right?!

R I T E A I D I C E C R E A M 

 obsessed with this store. I wanted everything. 

 NOM NOMM

nati, liana, kalli, nat, leslie, maddie, and kelli! 

love these chicks. 

such a fun time away! 

Happy birthday Rylieeeee! 

yayaaa. love yah. 

c o l l e g e

(Here I am...in my 3hr Wednesday night class. Got my backpack, most comfortable shoes on, the best coffee tumbler ever, and a banana for energy when I hit that 1.5hr wall.)

To be honest, I absolutely love college. I am a college person. I thrive off of the amount of people you have the capacity to see in one day. I thrive off of the books we get to read. I thrive off of the freedom and creativity we have in projects. I thrive off of the scheduling and the daily routine. I truly love college.  So here I am..about to register for my last semester here at APU...uhhhmmm whaaat???

Wasnt I just a freshman? Didn't I just move here? whoaaaa buddy. slow it dowwwwn.
lucky for me, I have a lot to keep my mind off the fact that I will be graduating in about 7 months.
Mid-terms are in full force here on campus...and I am diving in head first. My classes this semester are by no means easy...and I have a lot ahead of me. But you know...papers get done, projects get accomplished, presentations happen...and semester after semester - I survive.

Anyway, Im mostly writing this to avoid the homework that I should be working on (hah, typical).
But college is rad. It really is. And I just get pumped every time I think about how many blessings are in my daily life. Life is so so good and Jesus rocks. foreal.

to end with a quote I absolutely LOVE-->

"The moment we make up our minds that we are going on with this determination to exalt God over all, we step out of the world's parade" - Tozer 

**I love that visual...of a massive parade happening where everyone is following and they dont even know why, and that moment happens when we make up our mind that we WILL EXALT CHRIST over all..and we physically step out of that line, of that flow of meaningless mediocracy...and step into His will for us. WHAT FREEDOM!! 

senior year, the best year.

So so blessed.
Thank you Jesus, for this house you have given us. For the place it has becoming for friends, for conversation, for laughter, cozyness, and a house to store memories. Thank you for blessing us with a place of joy and a place where we can fellowship with the people you have put in our lives. You are such a good good father and we delight in you!

love,
the nest.

(photo: from this past saturday. After the football game we invited some of our fav people over to eat icecream and just hang out. seriously, the best.)

the start to a good weekend...

ANNEKE IS HOME! Objectives for this weekend: take house Christmas Card since its the only weekend all of us are home (CHECK)...eat at Lemonade in Pasadena (CHECK)...eat at 21 Choices (CHECK)...have coffee with Cat...eat at in and out with the roommates...watch Liana get crowned Homecoming Queen (yes, we are lame and stuff have homecoming court)...have all our friends over our house!

GOOD WEEKEND.

An Awesome World.

INSPIRATION!!! --> via. Dallas Clayton. 

p.s just ordered this book on Amazon :) 

currently working on: Cherish+Steven's Trash the dress sesh.

M E X I C O

ahhh...beautifulll.
weekend recap: Headed out to Oak Glen (Yucaipa) for the Mexico thanksgiving break leaders retreat. (For those of you who don't know, I'm helping lead a team down to mexicali this thanksgiving to do community service projects and share the gospel!) When we arrived at the camp...that fresh mountain air was exactly what I needed. crisp. refreshing. clean. We spent the weekend familiarizing ourselves with the other leaders (there was about 50 of us) and let me tell you...I was so incredibly encouraged by the amaaaazing people leading teams to Mexico this November. wow.

More specifically...my team (Team Stephen..named after the first martyr) is an RAD group.
Let me just give you a brief description: there is lauren our team leader. Shes a sophomore from Portland who is so mature for her age, so confident in leading and has such a giving heart. There's Eric, a freshman who is just the most precious thing ever. He's from Montana...a PK...and a music major..too cute. Then there's Kelsey, sophomore missionary kid who grew up in Kenya and just moved to the states for college. Then..there's Jeff who is chinese and from Walnut, he has crazy dreams like me and is pumped to go to urbana this year. Then..there's Katelyn (roommate) who i am so so stoked to serve with. And lastly, there is precious Claire who is (no joke) 4'10 and the cutest thing ever. She is a missionary kid from Mexico...speaks fluent spanish and will be our translator. PTL.

basically...the Lord has once again..put me on an amazing team and I am just blown away by his grace and provision. The funny thing is...I was concerned with what I would be doing this semester. Get a job? intern somewhere? be involved on campus? I was so concerned with "filling my schedule" that I was searching for things that weren't from the Lord. I was trying to fill my calendar because that is what was safe to me, what sounded good when people asked me about my semester, what I thought was necessary. NOPE. Then God shows up and tells me to shut up and listen...breaks me away from my comfort zone of "alpha leader"..."RA"...throws me in a house with Anna (roommate) who happens to be the head of Mexico Outreach...and here I am going to do community service in Mexico in a month.

unreal.
Let's just say that the Lord knows what He's doing and I dont. hahaa.
Our team in preparing to spend thanksgiving break doing laborious, unglamorous, work in Mexico with the hope that our Jesus would be glorified through our actions and that the people we serve will see Him through us. Pray for direction through the planning process...pray for fundraising support..pray for our hearts to be that of the lowest servant..pray against the enemies attacks on our teams..pray for safety...radical love...and that people would come to meet their savior!

amen.

Bailey Davidson "wiggle butt" Komae...WELCOME TO THE FAMILY :) 

a wedding in SLO.

assembling the troops. 

This past weekend my cousins Cherish had her wedding in the beautiful SLO.

We spend our time relaxing at our beach front hotel, eating the best food SLO has to offer,

and enjoying the presence of our loved ones...all in one place at one time!

congrats Steven and Cherish!