God is Good.

Hello All!

Here are some pictures of the elephant seals at Chimney Rock. I wish you could tell how huge they are! The ones that are lounging are all females and the two big guys playing in the water are the males:) I was literally about 10 feet from them!

So, I am actually writing today's entry from work- which is crazy because it's NEVER this slow! Today has been a nice break. There were only 2 of us in the stranding office today (which isn't that unusual because there are only 4 of us haha), but Lauren left at 3:30 which leaves me here all by myself until 8PM. AH! Yes, that's right... I am in charge of the entire rescue line and response right now...pretty crazy. Anyway..today hasn't been bad at all. Only 4 animals in today. Compared to our 12 last night. haha.

Well let's see...not too much to catch you up on. Except on Sunday I went back to the Calvary Chapel that Luke and I went to while he was here. I absolutely love it. The pastor is great and I feel like both times the message was written just for me. This week it was on fear and trust. Something I have come to known quite well these past few weeks. The few days before this sermon, I was getting a little worried about my job. Just worried that I wouldn't be able to do well and handle all the tasks that I would be given. But last Sunday's message helped SO much. It made me really think about what I am fearing and why. There is no reason to fear failure. I know I can do this. God is here with me:).

While I was at church on Sunday I went up to the info desk to ask about the college ministry. The woman there quickly grabbed the college pastor who just so happened to be standing right next to me. He was really nice and invited me to the college group on Monday night. I was really excited to meet some new people....untilllll about 30 minutes before I was going to the group. As I am sure you all know, I am not exactly the textbook "extravert." In fact, going to something like this, all alone, is totally out of my character. I got out of work late that night so I almost made that an excuse not to go. I didn't want to walk in to the group already praying and be that awkward new girl-ha. But I called Rachel who gave me the advice of "well, just do it, at least if you don't like it, you were late and already missed part of it." (lol) . That didn't get me completely convinced either. So I called Luke who gave me the pep talk I needed to force myself to go. Also, I could feel God telling me... you need to go, you need to go. Sorry Luke, that may have given me a bit bigger push;). So I pulled up to this house in the country that the church rents and saw people playing volleyball and hanging out outside. Once I parked I literally sat in my car for a good 3 minutes convincing myself to get out. Haha. I am ridiculous. Anyway, after reluctantly getting out of my car I walked up and stood off to the side for a very long, awkward minute until 2 girls walked up. I turned toward them and smiled and one of them introduced herself to me. Her name was Kelly and her friend's name was Hannah. They were VERY nice. They then introduced me to their friend Selby (who happens to live in Novato). These are the sweetest people I have met in a long time. I was SO relieved! After 5 minutes of talking to Kelly and after she found out I was new in town she said "Oh I'm so excited! Can we please be friends!" haha. She's awesome.

So the bible study would not start. It was supposed to start at 7 and by the time 8pm rolled around, the 4 of us were getting a little antsy. The girls all agreed that ice cream sounded great so they all wanted to do our own small group bible study. So, since no one else had really bothered to talk to me and most of the people there actually seemed like high school students, I figured..why not? So, we drove up even more north to Santa Rosa (where 2 of the girls live) and went to a little cafe' called Aromas. The four of us had a GREAT bible study on the beattitudes. We used the book that the whole college group was using. Basically, I just had a really great night. Those girls were so welcoming and accepting. I got all their numbers and I am going to the Friday night worship service with Hannah this Friday. I am so glad that I trusted God and just went. He is awesome.

I've also been getting along really well with my roommate Marielle. It kinda stinks though because we both have pretty crazy schedules. But last night we found time to go see "Up" which was SO cute! I absolutely loved that movie. So yeah, everything is going fairly well. The center's ribbon cutting ceremony is this Friday and apparently, Minnie Driver is going to be there! haha. She is shooting a commercial for Dawn soap at our facility. Pretty crazy huh? We have been all over the news lately. Oh! And I am super excited about Luke being able to come visit me again:) We found out that he can use my free ticket from Southwest and will be out here the day before my birthday:) Yay! I hope everyone is doing well. Love and miss you all!