It was perfect.

For 45 minutes I was in Slovenia again.

My life...

At a family get together last weekend my Grandpa asked me, "Christina, besides work, what do you do?"

I thought about it and said, "I go to church."

Everyone laughed. I think they thought I was making a joke. But, I wasn't. It pretty much is all that I do these days. Work and church activities. I like it though.

When Im at home, I read. Ive been reading a lot lately. And will be reading more now that LOST and American Idol are through. :) These are few books that Ive been reading.




















Lauren used to practise Orthodox Judaism and now is a Christian. But her Christianity has been enriched by many Jewish traditions and practices. Each chapter is another Jewish practice. Ive read the book before and always love picking it up and reading a chapter or two.




















So I read this when I go work out. I love American history! Its all about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth. Did you know that he was 28years old when he killed Lincoln? And he was pretty much the equivalent to Brad Pitt of today? He also carried around pictures of his top five favorite girlfriends. Yes, top five. So basically, Im learning a lot. :)






















This is a book Ive always wanted to read and never sat down and read. Well, Im liking it. Its not NEW to me, but its so refreshing. I so need to hear and believe the things Brennan Manning talks about.




















One of my top five favorite books, of all time. Not this cover however. Never seen this cover actually, and it kinda bothers me, but I couldnt find my 1960's cover on the internet, its probably out of print. This book always amazes me. I quote it all the time. And am unblievably challanged by the thoughts of Henri Nouwen. I cant wait to meet him in Heaven some day. If you havent ever read anything by him, go out today and buy this book.





















Lauren Winner, again. Im excited to read her memoir. Im actually reading it with a new friend of mine. Im excited to talk about it with someone else. I havent started reading it yet, but look forward to it!

Date with Polona

Who says I cant still hang out with my friends in Slovenia?! Polona and I had tea together today. We talked about life, friends, Jesus and more. It was delightful!! Im counting down the days till she comes and sees me this summer...

And another gift, from a girl I love!

Such a fabulous gift!!!

This made me laugh. Especially the airplane part.

Missions Conference in CA!

Surprise! Im coming to CA! My church is having missions conference this next week and I will be there Friday to Monday. If you are in the area, come and see me! I will be at Grace Bible Church in Arroyo Grande, CA! And this happens to be the logo for the conference! Cool huh?!

North Carolina

I had a BLAST in North Carolina. Last time I was in North Carolina Robyn's house was robbed and everything stolen. We were insistent that this would be a less dramatic week. Well-- to make a long story short, Robyn's dog was held at gun point by a cop that showed up at the house looking for a felon. Her garage door broke and was threatening to fall on her car, keeping us from going anywhere for half the day. Her brother Blake barely escaped a very serious car accident on the freeway. Sandy, Robyn's roommate had an elevator fall three floors at her work--she wasn't in it. And we had a few medical issues arise. Needless to say we still had a blast. We pretty much always have fun, no matter what we do. However, next time, Robyn you come to visit me!












We've been friends since college and always have the time of our lives when we are together!












Robyn's brother Blake hung out with us almost every day! He has a great sense of humor that kept us laughing all week long! Robyn's roommate Sandy became a sweet friend as well. In the evenings we'd debrief our crazy days together. She even got to hang out with us a few times!












After church a group of Robyn's friends and I went out for Chinese food. It was yummy!














Starbucks...and essential part of our week.















One day Robyn had to work, so I steamed her curtains in her office. :)












Robyn, PJ and I grabbing coffee












Thanks to the random coffee house guy we met--Brad--we learned about a great sushi restaurant that offered half priced sushi after 11pm! As a thank you, we invited him to come along.












It turned out to be a late night and amazing sushi! When we arrived at 10pm there was a line of about 40 people! We didnt even get in until midnight. But we had a bunch of fun anyway!












Blake trying to take my sushi












We ran into a friend of Robyn's who is in her MBA class. He gave me advice on my mac computer since he is employed by mac and apparently an expert.












Robyn, Brad, and Sandy loving the sushi!












College Basketball game party!












Wearing our teams colors. We cheered for different teams just to make things interesting.












Robyn's dad and I cheered for the same team. Our team won!













Thanks for an awesome week Robyn!!!!!

Chicago/Indiana

Im writing this post from an airport as Im leaving North Carolina! These however are the pictures from my Chicago and Indiana trip. We visited Moody Bible, stayed at the Geneva house, then drove to Fort Wayne and stayed with a dear friend, Laurie Doden. My mom and I rented a car, 2009 Ford Focus that had only 2.5miles on it!! By the end of the trip it was well over 500 miles! North Carolina pictures soon to come...

Catching up

I love California. Always have. Always will. It was 85 degrees when I was there (Which is almost 30 celsius). Perfect weather.













Pismo Beach













Loving the sand in my toes.













Everyone is all about Organic everything in CA. Katy took me to an organic fast food resteraunt. The food was actually incredible! And they even had like 8 different flavors of ketchup!

I moved around a lot when I lived in CA. So I drove around and took a snapshot of each house I lived in.













1101 Madonna Road, San Luis Obispo. Age 7-9. I got to go to school for the first time when I was in third grade! I was home schooled before. No home school jokes!






Ok, I actually didnt get to this house cause I got busy, but found it on google maps. 1925 Corralitos Road, San Luis Obispo. Age 9-11. Changed to a new public school for 4th and 5th grade.













404 Pecan Street, Arroyo Grande. Age 11-17. I think of this as the house I grew up in. Started attending Coastal Christian School. 6th-11th grade.













166 Alder Street, Arroyo Grande. Just a few streets over from the last house. My senior year of high school was here. Got our dog Copper as a puppy. It felt like I didnt live here for very long. Actually I didnt. Just one year. 12th grade. Then I went away to college at Multnomah.

Crazy

Last time I was at Robyn's house her house was robbed and everything stolen. We were determined to have a less dramatic time together. So far... it's been pretty dramatic. Her dog Rodeo had a gun held to him by a police officer that showed up at Robyn's house looking for some Felon. Then Robyn's brother was in an almost car accident that shook him up pretty badly. Then the garage door started crumbling and almost fell down onto her car. We were stuck inside for most of the day cause we couldnt get the car out of the garage. Then her mom's husband ended up in the hospital. Oh did I mention at that Robyn's roommate had an elevator fall three floors at her work?

We are hoping today is less dramatic.

We are doing half priced sushi at 11pm tonight.

Loud Music.

Im in North Caroline in a coffee shop with Robyn. The music is loud. We are sitting at a table with someone we dont know. We are trying to focus, but it tough.

Pogresam Slovenijo...

Worship Night

Katy and I have been friends since we were 6 years old. In fact when we were little we would go to church and stare at the pretty girl leading worship and be in awe. Now Kate is the worship pastor at that same church we used to go to. Last night, I went to that church, for a night of worship and the opening of their new church building.

Farewell Portland

A few more pictures of my time in Portland. It went so fast!! There were so many people I didnt get pictures of... Bri, Judy Glantz, Melissa, the Donovans, Blevins, MacMurrays, Willafords, Dean Karen, Aaron and Katie, Danny...












Joel and Andi McMartin and their little boy Ethan. They are being trained by New Tribes Mission to go out on the field sometime soon! We ate lunch and talked. It was nice! Joel's sister Becca is a friend of mine from JV.












Heidi Chris and I went to Mcmenamins for dinner and watched Madagascar. We had a fun time, then drove home in a blizzard of Portland snow!












This describes pretty much every afternoon in Portland. Anna and I would get together and tell Slovenia stories. We are writing them all out so we dont forget! At this coffee shop we made friends with a little girl and she took our pictures. She was four.












I had every type of weather in Portland. Snow, ice, rain, sun, and even a rainbow!






























I got some new books at Powells so I happily read most of the trip.

Now on to my CA adventure! The weather is beautiful. Pictures and videos to come soon...

I cant wait...

A few portland pictures...

Ive only been in Portland for two days, but ive been doing lots of things! Anna and I met in Starbucks yesterday and talked for an hour. Then Sharon Mormance and Laurel Jenkins showed up and we talked and talked and talked. Totally oblivious to the time. We were tired of sitting in Starbucks, so we went out for lunch and talked a bit more! The total was over 7hrs with these girls. It was so fun to talk about Slovenia. Sharon and Laurel will be moving there in the next year with their husbands and kids. Later that night Heidi and I made coffee milkshakes and watched Prince Caspian. It was fun girl time!

Im in Portland!!

I truly love this city. If you live here, I hope I run into you. Either on accident or on purpose.