Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!
Well I finally made it home, after a great weekend with Brandon! He was SO surprised and it was such a fun time. :)
I finally made it home...after a lot of traveling and spending the night in Guayaquil, because Quito was too foggy to land in...but I am home and enjoying every moment!
I hope this finds you doing well and having a great Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

and much love...

SURPRISE!

SURPRISE!!!!!!!
Okay I'm sorry for not telling you all before, but I'm actually NOT in Ecuador!!! :) All my flights went well, I made it safely back to the US of A! Its a little surreal for me to be back, but all is well. But the most exciting thing is that I'm actually in COLORADO WITH BRANDON! I'm here until Monday, and then I really do fly to Ecuador for Christmas....but first I stopped in to surprise Brandon! It was so fun, we filmed it. His parents picked me up, and then he had been driving home from school at the same time. We beat them back to the house, and he walked in the door and his uncle gave him a big hug, then I just walked up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder!!!!! and he FREAKED OUT! It was so fun! He couldn't believe I was actually there...especially since I had seen Logan briefly in my layover in LA, so Log and I called him from LA and I told him I got in safe and sound...and blah blah blah... :)
So there you have it! The big news I've been keeping for quite awhile! :) I'll put up pictures later...but there you go for now!
Much love!

¡Colorin, Colorado, Este cuento se ha acabado!

Well...in 24 hours I will be on a plane headed home...wow. time surely does fly!
The title of this post is what Spanish Tales end with...we say "happily ever after", but "Colorin, colorado este cuente se ha acabado"....is Spanish!

Exams went well...I survived. It was a lot of work but we survived...yes "we" because Hanna and I truly do everything together, I'm not sure what I'll do without her for the next two weeks. I am so blessed to have had such an incredible roommate, she's challenged me...loved me...encouraged me...we've laughed, cried together...and grown so much. The friendship between us is incredible, and truly such a blessing to me. Thank you for praying for my roommate, because God heard your prayers and blessed me with Hanna....

This morning we had our "graduation" it was super fun! We all got dressed up and we got diplomas, and then had tapas and a mingle time afterward. So fun...and really neat to see all that we've accomplished! I know my Spanish has improved, and certainly how confident I am using it, even if I make mistakes!!! So I think I accomplished my goal in being BOLD in the category of Spanish! I want to live somewhere where I can speak Spanish ALL the time! I love it, I want to teach using it...it truly is apart of me.

I'm all packed up. If feels strange leaving this house...that has become a home, and now holds a piece of my heart, because of the INCREDIBLE mama that I have! There seriously are no words to describe how much she means to Hanna and I, and how much she's become a part of our lives...God answered my prayers...above and beyond anything I could've ever dreamed about in regards to a familia here and a mama...we gave her this really cool collage today of pictures of different things we've done together, and she started crying...and we started crying. I hate to leave her. But I know we'll be back...and I'll see her again. I am so blessed to know her and have her be apart of my life....continue to pray for her, especially as the house goes back to being just her....

I'm leaving the house in about 2 1/2 hours....I'll be on a bus from here to the Madrid Airport, we get in at 3:30 am, then fly out at 7 am...I'm flying with the girls to London, and then we're on diff flights to LA, but I'm praying that I'm able to get on the same flight as them, then we have a 10 hour flight to LA....long long long day... but all fun and so worth it!
I would appreciate your prayers for smooth traveling...that we would be safe, that bags would make it and that we would be able to get some sleep....and that it would just be a great flight!!!

Thank you for all your prayers.....they have made this trip all the more worth it. Spain is keeping part of my heart for sure, and I will for sure be back! MERRY CHRISTMAS to each one of you! and much MUCH love!!!!!!!!

some of the girls in my Spanish class who I had the pleasure of meeting!

WE DID IT!

I'm so glad I get to go home with these girls!

This is Dr. H, our Cal Poly prof

and this is Beatriz, our Spanish professor, one of my favorite people!

IT SNOWED this morning!!!!!

Hanna and I packing up...it was quite a process.

SEE the SNOW?!?!?!

The Plaza Mayor at Christmas

Me and AUXI (mama) eating FISH!

Hanna and I are quite the professionals

Our Grammar class

Outdoor ICE SKATING!

7 days...

Well 7 days from right now I will be somewhere over the Atlantic ocean headed straight for Los Angeles, and then from there to Ecuador.....I am so excited to be home for Christmas...to see my family, to be in a place I love, with some of the people i love the most...(some will be missing...) but I am so thankful that I get to go home....
But the point is....I have now lived in Spain for 79 days, and have 7 left...how crazy is that?!?!? It's amazing, and God has blessed my time tremendously! And I know He's not going to stop now...so I have an amazing 7 days in front of me....
I would appreciate your continued prayers though as I finish up here...
1. for all the finals I have...2 Friday (Oral Expressions-Spanish, Humanities-Cal Poly), 2 Monday (Oral Expressions-Written part, History-Cal Poly) and 2 on Tuesday (Grammar-Spanish, Culture-Spanish)...so its going to be a whole lot of studying in a little time...but so worth it! so just for diligence...
2. That I could finish strong- in relationships, as I'm tired and working on hwk stuff, that I could continue to love and pour into the people around me...for patience.
3. For good time in the Word, with God over the next week...as I reflect and wrap up, that in the busyness I would take time to be still
4. For the tear I feel in my heart...I'm so excited to be home, to move on and go back to Cal Poly...but you have to know how much I love Spain and everything here...so for the process of saying goodbye...not my favorite...
5. And always for Brandon and I...I miss him a whole lot, and now have been away from him for about 4 months...that God would continue to strengthen us, that we could figure out a time to be together....for him as he is waiting to hear from Medical Schools and the Air Force....for patience in the midst of that...and also as this is his finals week as well...so for strength for him!

Thank you so much for your prayers...they truly support me more than you'll ever know. I am so blessed to have such amazing people in my life...I am thankful for each of you....and I will try to update as much as possible here and there about what's going on.....oh I had a fabulous time with the Coles (Brandon's Parents)...they got to meet my Mama and her boyfriend (Rafa), my friends, we traveled to 2 surrounding cities, and then just for them to see where I live here was really neat....so thank you Uncle Curt and Aunt Karen for visiting!

Much love to each of you.....and I hope you are having a great day!

NORTHERN IRELAND!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Good day!!!!
I hope this finds each of you doing just well, and enjoying every moment of this Christmas season! I am loving all the Christmas spirit here! Everything is decorated, the town is lit up, the Plaza Mayor is beautifully decorated, and there is lots of hustle and bustle going on...but I love it! Christmas is such a wonderful time of year...so much to celebrate...the birth of Christ, and what Him coming to the world meant...we just had two days off of school, one of them celebrating the Immaculate Conception, must of been absolutely amazing...its a time of family and friends...i love it! and I am so excited to be home...yup, thats a reality now! I am leaving Spain in 9 days!! And headed to Ecuador! and am so excited!!!!!!! But not ready to leave this all behind yet...I love Spain, and all that has gone on here...but I'm not saying goodbye just yet...I have 6 finals...and lots of fun left...so I won't write all my favorite memories yet! :) but you can definitely be praying for my last week and a half, for the work to be done, the goodbyes to be said...the transition...all that leaving entails...
BUT....for starters I am doing MUCH better! Thank you for your prayers...I battled a little during the weekend, but am pretty much back at 100% with a little cough left...your prayers have been answered! :)
Secondly my time in Northern Ireland was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING....we got in about 3 am on Friday morning, slept for a little bit and were out and about later on! For those of you who don't know, I have a lot of family in Northern Ireland and I got to meet all of them in 2005 when my family was there...and so I went back with my 5 girlfriends, and we stayed with my cousin Martin and his wife Bronagh and their most precious 7 month old Callum...they rented a house by the beach in Portstewart, Northern Ireland for the weekend!!!! It was fabulous...cold as ever, but just fabulous! They took us all over, we drove along the coast, we hiked, we ate some great food...everything was amazing, we even had really nice weather, sunshine and all included...it rained at night, but that was okay because we were sleeping and then it was beautiful in the morning! The strange thing was that the sun sets at 4 pm, so that messed up how tired we were in the afternoons, its funny how tied we are to the sun! I got to see most of my family there...it is all on my mom's side, both her mom and dad, so that was super fun! I felt so loved and special being able to see all of them, I got to talk to my grandparents...it was amazing.
Sunday we spent the day in Belfast and got to soak in that part of it...then we were back in the Dublin airport by 1 am...spent the night there (although i couldn't sleep all night!) and flew back to Madrid, landed around 10:30, bussed back to Valladolid, and were pretty tired when we got back...but it was an absolutely fabulous trip! (i hope you enjoy the pictures!)
AND...today Brandon's parents flew into Madrid, and are here in Valladolid until Thurs morning...they are here on business, but decided to add Valladolid to their trip and come and see me!!!! I am so blessed! It is so fun to have them here and be able to show them all my life here...I miss Brandon a lot...but its fun to have them here! I am so blessed and loved.... :)

Other than that--things are good...lots of studies ahead of me...but life is good, and I LOVE SPAIN! :) thank you for your prayers and support! I look forward to hearing from you!
Enjoy the Christmas spirit, the joy, the peace...the fact that Christ was born so that He could die to save you..pretty amazing to grasp!

Much love to each of you!!!!!

Belfast by night...

The beautiful coast...

The beautiful countryside...

Me on the Carrik-A-Rede rope bridge...it is very high but so fun!

Me and Tiffany...

All the girls in Belfast...

Me and Dalia enjoying our hot chocolate at the International Festival in Belfast.

Me and Callum...so precious.

Enjoying our beach walk in Portstewart

Bronagh and I at Glenariff...hiking around.

The girls...they're all so amazing.

My grandpa's side of the family!

My grandma's side of the family...(for the most part)

My grandma's sisters...Aunt Wilma (left to right), Aunt Lavina, and Aunt Mary

Uncle Huston (grandpa's brother) and his wife Aunt Silvia

Me at Giant's Causeway!

Bronagh, Callum, Me and Martin

Me and Martin...my mom's first cousin!

icky...

Good morning everyone...or afternoon or evening... :)
Well things are going really good here...2 weeks from today I will be flying out! Crazy how time goes by so fast. But its been amazing, and I still have 2 amazing weeks ahead of me! Today actually we're flying out to Northern Ireland for the weekend, because due to Spain's Constitution, and the Immaculate Conception we have Monday and Tuesday off! So we're headed to visit a lot of my mom's family in Northern Ireland! I am so beyond excited!!!!
The only bummer though is that I'm pretty sick...getting better, but these last couple of days have been no fun at all...it started out just with a cold, sore throat, no big deal...and yesterday morning when I woke up I thought I was much better, but then while sitting in class I was struck hard, with chills, achyness, feverish and diarrhea--just awful feeling. So once we were done with class I came home and laid low for the rest of the day. I was only able to sleep a little during the day, but it was nice not to have to go anywhere...I got a good nights sleep last night, but still feeling not 100% today, and the thought of traveling is not that great right now....so I would really appreciate your prayers that I would feel a lot better by the time we get on our airplane tonight...I'm still stoked about being in Northern Ireland, but I do not want to feel like this...so thank you for your prayers... :) Oh and Hanna was struck with it later last night, so we both stayed home from class this morning, doing a little better, but not great....

As far as just life here, its getting pretty busy because we get back on Monday, then have 2 finals on Friday, one Monday (0f the following week) and 2 on Tuesday, then our "graduation" on Wednesday and we fly out on Thursday! Crazy...so lots of studying and shopping ;) to be done between now and when we leave...but it'll be great.
Jesse, Tiffany, Me, Lelani, Lily

We got a chance to go look at a Castle last week, as well as eat a really typical Spanish dish--Lechazo--which is baby lamb, it was really good...
Hanna and I at the restaurant--it was an old mill over the water, so cool!

...then we got to go to a winery and tour the Bodega...It was so fun to be out of the city in the country, it was absolutely beautiful, really really cold but really fun!

Me and Tiffany on top of the Castle

Aubrea, Hanna, Tiffany and Me

I love my roomie!

It is definitely getting way colder here...this week its been anywhere from 1 degree celsius, to mostly 8ish degrees Celsisus....cold....But we've been so spoiled by the weather so I really have no complaints, because I really like the fresh feeling outside, the beauty all around us...Leaves keep falling and I just LOVE it!

At the Winery...enjoying the beautiful Sunset!

The Pueblo (town) we got to go visit

Another really cool thing is that God is seriously working in some of the girls' hearts here, they're asking great questions...they want to believe, but something is holding them back, something is keeping them from just handing their lives over 100%...so its been super exciting for me to get to talk to them...to share from my life...So I ask that you would be praying for them as well...that they would not leave here unchanged, and that God would just continue to soften their hearts and for their responses...
Lastly...just pray for safe travels this weekend...that we could have a BLAST, although I know we will...but just be praying for our time as the 6 of us girls....
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support, much love to each one of you!!!!!! :)

Thankful...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!
On this day of thanks, I hope that each one of you is have a fabulous day! That you have taken time to be thankful today for all that God has blessed you with...from great food to family and friends...but most of all for sending his son to die for you...because that is the most amazing gift of all...i am so thankful.
thankful to be here in spain, for my amazing friends, my family....for the beauty all around me...for my incredible boyfriend...for my health, for God's provision, for the ability to travel, for the great education I'm receiving, for being able to learn and speak Spanish on a daily basis...
God is good...all the time and I don't think I take enough time to be thankful...so today, and everyday I want to be thankful! :)
Also...today just a fun little story. Today was just a normal day, went to class, had lots of class... ;) but then when we came home, my Spanish Grandma and great Aunt, surprised Hanna and I by making turkey for us!!! They were so excited to give it to us, the house smelled like thanksgiving when we came home and it was just so so so sweet! So I am so blessed for a fun Spanish family who takes such good care of me!

I hope that each one of you is having a great day...and know that I am so thankful for all of your prayers, love and support!
Much love to each of you, and know that I am thankful for YOU today....

God is at work...

Happy Sunday!
Why hello everyone...how are you?! I am doing just great, I have enjoyed a wonderful weekend at home in Valladolid. Yesterday morning I got to sleep in until I woke up around 10:30...it was a beautiful thing. Then I spent some time at home, read my Biblia for a little bit, and headed out for the market with my Mama here in town. IT was an absolutely beautiful day here...I am loving it more and more, all the leaves are falling off, some trees are already bear, and some are still full of such wonderfully colored leaves! :) I love walking down by the river..I"m trying to soak it up before it all changes into winter. I relaxed for the afternoon, and went and saw the new movie 2012 about the prediction that the world will end with my Mama and her Boyfriend. It was all in Spanish, and the exciting thing is that I didn't even think twice about it, it was so normal, and I loved it! I wasn't translating, I was just listening and thinking... :)!!!!! It was good...a very thought provoking movie...I do believe the world is going to end, when I haven't the slightest idea, but it was super interesting to see a picture of what it might look like, and ask myself how that impacts my day to day living...to I look around and see the lost, do I care for the souls of the people around me...a very challenging thought. So I told you I went with my Mama...Auxi, and her boyfriend Rafa...well a little background on them...they're amazing. Rafa is over a lot and so we've got to know him and its just so fun having both of them around, they are so sweet and take good good care of me and Hanna. Rafa (Rafael) is actually a doctor, and he worked on my toe a little bit (I have problems with ingrowns, gross I know, but just in case you were wondering my toe has been really swollen and infected again...and if you know what I've gone through with them before, you know how bad it really is.) anyway that's not the point of the story...but I have been praying for awhile for an opportunity to share my faith with Auxi, in fact again yesterday I was praying about it, Hanna is in Barcelona this weekend, so I was thinking about the 1-on-1 opportunity I would have with her, so I was just asking God yesterday morning for courage and the words to say, along with a cool opportunity to share my faith with her...and God is faithful, and He answers prayer...
The opportunity arose last night after the movie, it was the kind of thing where I knew it was good timing, but was nervous because Rafa was there..but God opened up the doors and we began to talk...Auxi asked me if I was going to Church in the morning, (yes) and if it were the Evangelical one, (also yes) then she asked me what was different between the Evangelicals and Catholics...wow. And thus began an amazing conversation, I wasn't sure off the top of my head but we just began talking and sharing the beliefs of each. I told them I didn't know all the answers but I could tell them what I believe and what Christ has done in my life...so then I had the amazing opportunity to share my testimony with them in Spanish! I was nervous...but its my story, and it was so exciting to share that with them...from there came a really neat, but really challenging and hard conversation for me...Rafa has very different beliefs and is very intelligent in what he knows and has studied different things, so I felt overwhelmed by his lack of faith and arguments, and all of it coming at me in Spanish...but it was good. I just listened a lot...and prayed for him. Auxi is somewhere in the middle I think...but over all it was really cool how God answered my prayer of wanting to talk to them and then just openly being able to tell them my story, about Christ and salvation...I don't know if I said the right things, or if anything will change in their lives...but I know I'm called to continue to share, to love them and to be an example of Christ here...so I would ask for you prayers for him. Both for Rafa and Auxi, that God would be working in their hearts and lives...and that God would use me. One thing I have loved about being here is the really neat conversations I've been able to have, and just being challenged to step up and be real and share Christ with the people around me...

So that was my Saturday...today I went to Church, and relaxed...worked on some homework, went on a walk...its been nice. I have more homework to do, but I just wanted to share my experiences and just ask you to continue to pray. I have a little less than 4 weeks here, until I'll be home. Crazy. So I just ask that you would pray for these last 4 weeks as you have for the ones that already passed...I'm torn about leaving here, because it is wonderful! So I'm excited to experience these last weeks and see where God is going to take me!

Much love to each one of you...enjoy the pictures!

Me in Salamanca

The girls being crazy.

The "Braidy Bunch!"

Me in the Cathedral

Girls just want to have fun...it was so cold!

Rafa hooked us up with tickets to the Spain vs. Argentina game in Madrid!

It was amazing...me and Tiffany and some guys from Valladolid behind us we met at the game!

Jesse, me, Tiffany, and Hanna! Que Viva España!

We went over to some Taiwanese girls' house for a multicultural dinner!

Such good food!

Fun to have friends where our common language is Spanish!