sunny with a high of 75//

i am so pumped about bethany south.

right now, i am so glad that God has put me at bethany [north? the 1st? i don't know... haha]. i love mosaic and listening to joel on thursdays. i love love love my class of 3 year old wild children sunday mornings. i am always excited to work during the week on our art supply job [katy and i put together the art supplies for the early childhood classes], and i am always up for any other ways i can help out, like our sweet vbs camps. i love meeting all these new people, and now recognizing and talking to the 'new people' that are becoming friends. i just really feel like i am growing here... its awesome!

so now our church is starting a satellite campus at stahl jr. high called bethany south. we had our "baby shower" for bethany south today... where pastor george laid out the plan for the new church, as well as introduced us to south's staff [most all are familiar faces]. although the 'grand opening' services won't start till september 14th, there will be sports camp vbs in the summer!

so what am i so pumped about? first... the thought of a 'new' church reminds me a lot of riverchase. the 'gift registry' included a covered trailer, music equipment, and kids stuff. one the staff members for bethany south is pretty much what i would call the 'tear down/set up' chief. ummm sports camp. its just crazy how familiar all this was this morning! second... unlike when riverchase first started, i will be able to be a part of the beginning of bethany south! i was always sad when people would say... "oh, well i was at the FIRST service we ever had at riverchase." or "i was at the FIRST 222." i was always thinking, darn... i missed out! but now i get to be involved!

so yeah. i am basically just pumped to be a part of this... and see what God has in store for bethany south!

[i feel like there should have been a 'dude' somewhere in that post. thats how excited i am!]

today was an eventful day followed by an eventful night. katy and i started off by going to work at the church for a couple hours. it actually only took us an hour to finish what we started yesterday... so that was cool. then we tried a new coffee place. it was bittersweet, haha. i felt a little like we were cheating on forza... but caffe adamo was pretty good. then the most exciting part of the day... amanda, katy, and i got an apartment!!!! yes! we move in on june 20th! woo!!! i am so excited i can hardly stand it. once we move in an decorate... there will definitely be pictures up. we spent the rest of the night planning furniture and paint and decor... all that stuff. then we decided to get some candy at about 11, followed by a quick visit to talicia's house, and an hour long phone conversation with tyler [mostly amanda... but katy and i had some input in the conversation]. now we have calmed down off the candy high... and are about to go to sleep. some good quotes though.

"why are we talking about drew?"

"mine just started out as a small crush and now its full blown love!!!!"

"i really wanted to punch you, but then after i talked to him... i wanted to hug you!"

-all from amanda

"mmmmmmmrrrrrrrrr."
-katy
"no... mmmmmk?"
-me

unless the world ends, airplanes disappear completely, or some other strange circumstance occurs, i will be in alabama from october 9th through the 16th. and i must say, i am extremely excited. i am sure it will be a very, very busy week. of course there is matthew and courtney's wedding! there are many good things about that: #1 is that i LOVE weddings. any wedding. #2 is that they are my first friends to get married. woop woop! haha. well i guess bryan and karen were the first, but matthew and courtney are like, closer to my age or something. i dont know. its just cool. okay so besides the wedding i am just stoked to see any and all members of the isbell family. i could list them all but hey, you guys know who you are, and you're just about the only people that read my blog. i also get to see kristen and tyler, basically my only friends from when i lived there. haha. i will get to go to my old work [starbucks!!!] and see some old co-workers. what else? maybe i will go to georgia, who knows. i dont really know. i am just excited. who else is excited?? :D

i have a theory. that no matter how old your younger sibling is, no matter how much taller they are than you, no matter how much more they weigh than you: as an older sibling you always have the reflex to want to jump in and save them. you can make fun of their crooked nose your entire life, but the moment anyone ELSE mentions it, they will wish they hadn't. you can argue and fight and brag about how much better you are than them, but the moment someone else is putting them down, watch out. they could be COMPLETELY wrong in an arguement, and deserve to be at the losing end, but as an older sister you still want to defend them. they can throw all your stuff in your sink, tell you that all your friends hate you, mess up your room, take you stuff... and yet, you will still feel the need rescue them the moment things are looking down for them. younger siblings might not feel the same towards older sibs... but then again this whole thing is just a theory anyway.

i love sundays. today we had nachos and taquitos [although i ONLY liked the nachos] and salsa for 'quatro de mayo'. and also because jake locker, the QB for the huskies, came and spoke at all three services. so everyone hung out outside in the front roped off part of the parking lot, eating nachos and hanging out with jake locker. not to mention, it actually feels like spring today! sunny and warm!! i had to turn on my AC in the car!! amazing. another good part about today... my three-year-old class. they are awesome! caleb, one particular three-year-old, told me that i smell very nice today. haha. and pretty much every kid runs to me when they are crying. i feel bad for the other teachers, because i am pretty much the favorite of my class. :)

1. small, live, local concerts. there is nothing better than going to a free concert, hanging out with friends, and listening to beautiful music played by people you know [and will someday marry ;)]. t and i went to the "mosaic fiji mission trip benefit concert" at that brick church on pioneer last night. there were four bands [michael rabb (and band), danielle henry (and band), the bryan reynolds band, and the redemption band]. i had heard all but danielle play before... but they were all AMAZING last night. definitely worth standing for 2 and a half hours. :)

2. chicken teriyaki. not only is it cheap for a full meal [5.99 for plenty of chicken, rice, and salad], but it is amazingly delicious. one of the greater things available in the northwest!

3. garage sales. it is the beginning of garage sale-ing season here in washington, and we [my fam] celebrated by having a HUMUNGOUS garage sale at my cousin bri's. sale items included stuff from myself, bri and phil, my aunt sandy, my grandma, cousin jami, and a few neighbors and family friends. it is so much fun to hang out with family and think of all the memories of your old stuff. as jami put it, "there goes my childhood!" [about a boy who bought one of her favorite stuffed animals]. i also think it is fun to bargain with people. the best part about this particular garage sale was the weather! bright and sunny two days in a row!!

4. text messaging. whether i am texting katy who is currently in california, or getting a text from stacey who is a few feet away from me at a concert... i love texting! haha.

5. loud music!!! i am so excited for summer to come [since we got a taste of it these past two days] because i can roll down the windows of my car with loud music. it really doesnt matter what you are listening to, as long as it is loud. today it was candlefuse... a crowd favorite. yesterday it was taylor swift. the day before i was blasting 'bagels by the sea' while driving to babysit. loud music just rocks!!! if i werent babysitting with a sleeping child upstairs... i would probably be jamming to some music right now!

6. new friends. over the past oh, month or so... i have made so many new friends! it is wonderful! forza friends, mosaic friends, younglife friends, new people i babysit for. you get the picture. new friends are wonderful!! and i love them!

7. learning. dude, [ha!] whether i am picking something up that joel teaches us at mosaic, something from pastor george at church, or discovering something new on my own... learning is awesome! that moment where everything clicks... i love it! it is making me even more excited to start school in the fall. although, i could do without the homework.

8. being broke. it sounds weird, but i kind of like being broke. haha. i have no money 95% of the time... but God always comes through with just enough for what i need, and i love it! i need gas, and God is there with a big babysitting job [yes i said a big job... you know gas is like 4 dollars a gallon. a two hour babysitting job just doesnt do it. haha], i need clothes, and hey! my mom says, do you want to go shopping tonight? i need food, and what do you know... there is 14 dollars in my bank account when i thought there was only 2. it is just amazing. now if only i could afford an apartment/rental house on this budget. ;)

9. being a girl. talicia and i were talking about it is fun to be a girl the other day. i like curling my hair or straightening it. painting my fingers and toes pink. doing my make-up. and wearing girly clothes. it is just fun. being a girl is cool. sorry to all the guys who are missing out.

10. looking forward to something. i haven't started a countdown yet, but i love looking forward ti big events. example: going back to the south in october! i am excited to buy a dress to wear to matthew and courtney's wedding, excited to see all the isbells!!!, and excited just to go somewhere. the countdown will probably start in the mid-summer... so be looking for it. :)

-it is STILL cold in washington.
-i had my first meeting with my younglife team, which was awesome. they are pretty cool, a little sarcastic, but i love it.
-i am housesitting/babysitting/petsitting for katy right now. because she is in san diego for calebs graduation.
-i have mosaic tonight which i am excited about.
-amanda and i discovered if we had our own tv show or video blog on youtube, it would have very high ratings.
-we also discovered we like to look at ourselves in the mirror which is kind of weird, but funny because we make the best faces.
-i have a real life caffiene addiction. i seriously get headaches without caffiene which i am sure is bad, but the cure is forza or a dp... and both those are nice :)
-me and katy explored our new church. it is probably the best place for hide and seek and/or sardines. although the 3rd story is a little scary... especially if you turn off the lights before the elevator gets to the top. ha! its out of a scary movie or something.
-i am looking for a house to rent in puyallup. so far not much has come up. but then again, i have no money at the moment, so i guess its alright.


that is about all i can think of right now. but yeahhh. cool. i know. more to come later. prob after mosaic tonight or something. maybe a random quote. who knows?

how once i moved back from alabama, i now regularly babysit for TWO families who are from the south. both families have southern accents, and jackson calls me miss meagan. :) benjamin cant talk yet, but it is still funny to me. both houses always have sweet tea in the fridge. its just funny to me. it makes me miss you isbells. call me when you need to me to babysit, i'll fly down asap. :)