Around the World in Twenty-Two Days

In just one week I leave for what has become the trip of a lifetime.

What began as an eight-day mission trip to Myanmar has become an around the world adventure. 

I am unbelievably excited, and, yes, maybe just a little nervous. 

Let me explain. 

A few months ago I was brought into a email correspondence with a pastor in Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) named David, in an effort to help them to best use some medical supplies that had been donated to them. As the conversation continued between Pastor David, one of my elders, and a businessman from my church (who chairs a foundation called Kingdom of Love), it became clear that more help was needed than we could give from afar. 

So the three of us, along with another pastor who has a close relationship with Pastor David, will be headed to Myanmar on October 28th. We will be doing community assessment, with the long term goal of starting a clinic in the area. The men will be looking for viable business opportunities to train Burmese women and men in to eventually support the clinic. I will be performing physical assessments on all of the children in the orphanage that Pastor David oversees. 

It's a lot to do in eight days. 

As I started planning the trip, I realized how short it was going to be, and how expensive it is to fly all the way to southeast asia. 

So I started looking for opportunities to extend my trip and make use of all the money being spent on airfare. 

Enter Sri Lanka. 

I have a wonderful friend from Biola, Thilini, who is from Sri Lanka. She recently graduated and moved back to Sri Lanka, and is graciously hosting me for 6 days after I leave Myanmar. 

Her dad is a pastor and they have all sorts of ministries in Sri Lanka - an orphanage, girls home, widow's home, and a recently opened clinic, to name a few.  I'm looking forward to seeing the ministry they do there and experiencing such a beautiful country!

An unexpected change.

Until two weeks ago, my plan was to come home after Sri Lanka. 

However, my good friends Shawn and Melissa Gorham got a great deal on tickets and booked a spur of the moment trip to South Africa for the first few weeks of November. 

She text me and told me they had booked, and immediately I realized that I had yet to book my return flight from Sri Lanka, and the dates would be perfect for me to fly down and join them in South Africa for a few days. 

South Africa. 

It's been the #1 destination on my travel list for at least six years - even before I started going to Southlands Church, where South Africans are more common than palm trees in Huntington Beach. 

I'll spare you the play-by-play, but let's just say, God is so gracious, and I managed to add on a week in Durban, South Africa, for only $350!  

To say I am excited is a huge understatement. 

To go to South Africa is incredible, and to go with such great friends (who are graciously letting me crash their vacation) makes it ten times more exciting. 

Hopefully I come back with all my limbs. 

I've watched enough shark week to know there's a lot of great whites over there, and Shawn expects me to jump off a pier and stand up paddleboard (we'll see about that). 

Just the facts:

8 Days in Myanmar

6 Day in Sri Lanka

7 Days in South Africa

67 hours on airplanes

86 hours total travel time

3 layovers in Beijing, Bangkok and Abu Dhabi

1 trip all the way around the world

If you pray, 

I'd love for you to pray for:

wisdom and discernment in medical assessment and treatment

an individual for me to give basic medical training to

a viable business opportunity to pursue in Myanmar

lasting relationships to be built

safety and favor in travel

health

Check back for updates on my trip! 

Insta Friday: How is it February already?

I've been reading friends Insta Friday posts for months.

And every time, I think "man, those iphone camera's are LEGIT!"

I'm waiting for the iPhone 5. 

I know, it's going to be awhile. 

But I figure, why wait till the to share my insta photos, blurry-ness and all?

So bear with my Droid Incredible and I, here we go.

My friend Chelsea celebrated a birthday. 

She has X Box Kinect, which, honestly, I'd never heard of. 

But it's incredible. 

My life will never be the same.

 I start of my nights at work with pockets bulging with saline flushes, alcohol wipes, sissors, carpojex, pens, sharpies and who knows what else.

Long Beach Airport to SFO. 

Jet Blue.

Standard.

Watching Obama's State of the Union from 30,000 feet?  

Sure, since there's nothing else to do.

I brought home movies for my mom and I to watch while she was in hospital.

Don't worry, I ditched the cases, that would've taken up half my 42.6 lb suitcase.

Speciaty's may be one of the best cafe's on the planet. 

Getting to have lunch there with friend Kim while I was home was such a treat. 

So were the pepproncini's on my sandwich.

Toms has ballet flats? What?

On my way back to my LA home.
At the gate, I opened the gift my mom had given me (I may have jumped the gun - she told me to open it on the plane).

Christian and Reinna's wedding was last Saturday. 

After they ran down the aisle, the whole bridal ran back to the front and did a choreographed dance!

So cute and so unexpected!

They had an incredible dessert set up...

 s'mores to top off the evening...

And CHURROS for their favor!

I do love that the LA smogs gives us such beautiful sunsets

These are our lockers at work. 

Mine is way down at the bottom in the back corner.

73 degrees in february = perfect bike weather

In between night shifts you can find my door looking like this, just a friendly reminder to my housemates  to keep the volume down

Graham crackers and peanut butter - why have i never tried it before?

It's my new favorite work snack.

does insta friday include videos? 

if it doesn't, it should. 

i'm leaving you with a  little nugget from my talented roomies.
i love coming home to this.

sorry it's sideways... but it's really the audio that's important :).

linking up here for the first time:

A Cantina Christmas

This past weekend at the Cantina we threw a little Christmas shindig. 

Inspired by J.Beib's song "mistletoe," of course.
If you haven't heard it, hurry up already!

Naturally we made a video invitation.
Because we're just that dedicated to spreading the Beiber cheer.

We filmed it on a whim right after our house thanksgiving dinner.

And we've probably watched it a million times since.

We're our own biggest fans.
Someone's gotta be.

Please notice the part at approximately 36 seconds where I DON'T fall.

Ya, I know. 

Awesome. 

We spent most of Saturday decking our halls. 

And by most of the day, I mean after 2pm, when I woke up after working the night before.

Our party was complete with a hot cocoa bar, a cookie decorating table, s'more station outside by the bonfire, photobooth and Christmas Kareoke.  

And after I burnt the first 2 gallons of milk, the hot cocoa turned out pretty great. 

Although that pot will never be the same.

Unfortunately, my camera was being utilized by the photo booth, so I really wasn't able to take many other pictures. 

But, don't worry, I have 260 photo booth pics for your viewing pleasure. 

since we used the song "mistletoe" for the invitation, we made sure to have plenty of mistletoe on hand (including an awesome mistletoe headband i found in the dollar section at target).
unfortunately (or fortunately?) the only people taking advantage of it were those two crazies on the left up there.
ya, those are my life group leaders.

That's just a little teaser :).

Head over to facebook if you want to see 186 more.

I have to admit I have an obsession with photo booths. 

Especially the one at Musee Mecanique right next to Pier 39 in San Francisco. 

I make sure to take everyone I can to that photo booth.

Speaking of, does anyone have any great ideas for how to display photo strips?

I'm on a quest for a home for the stack of photo booth strips in a basket on my shelf. 

They're so pretty. 

a very cantina thanksgiving

This weekend my housemates and I made a Thanksgiving FEAST.  

Well, mostly my housemates did the cooking. 

I made green beans. 

Amanda and Emily cooked an AMAZING turkey.  

Seriously, they've got skills. 

They brined it and everything.

I didn't even know what brining was before this.

These women are such an incredible blessing in my life.
I love them all dearly.

And it was so fun to have a full thanksgiving dinner since I work on Thanksgiving this year!

Oh ya, and we listened to Christmas music all day.
We're moderately obsessed with Justin Beiber's song "Mistletoe."

More on that later. 

For now, I'll leave you with a taste of our Thanksgiving, courtesy of Gabby:

Happy Thanksgiving!

10 on 10: rookie edition

I'm new to this whole 10 on 10 thing.  

Which is why I'm posting on the 11th.  

And had a really hard time coming up with 10 pictures.  

Don't judge me if they're hideously boring.

Woke up to my Sleep app telling me I have a 17.0 hr sleep debt.

Night shift is awesome.  

The breakfast of champions. 

Or night nurses who eat breakfast at all hours of the day.

 I've been eating this practically every day this week thanks to a tremendous amount of leftovers from Cari's Bachelorette Weekend. 

Check out Kim's post here. 

It was a pretty awesome weekend. 

Went to work and spent 8 hours starting IV's with the hospital's IV nurse. 

I'm getting pretty good - didn't even miss one!

But I because of that I have an 8 hr gap in pictures. 

Sorry, but you probably wouldn't want to see them anyways :).

I FINALLY got my diploma in the mail, so I went to HR and got them to add my BSN to my name badge!

 I know, this is an awful picture.  

But if i didn't use it, it would be 9 on 10. 

And that kind of defeats the purpose, right?

I've also been eating ice cream cones practically every day, since Jordan and Cari left them and a half gallon of chocolate malted crunch ice cream (my fav) at my house. 

I've been working on a new map for my friend Samuel. 

Luckily, I had some slave labor - oops, I mean neighbor kids -  to help.

They're pretty cute.

Tavia has them over all the time to make cookies, play volleyball or ride bikes. 

I got this book in the mail the other day, as a surprise from a friend who knows me well. 

And I'm SO excited to read it. 

So I started as a break from my map making. 

Signing up for benefits = I'd rather go to a museum with my dad.

Which, if you know me, isn't something I really enjoy. 

Do I need vision insurance if I have perfect vision?  

Help me out people. 

I'm new to this whole adult job thing.

A whole disc of Friends episodes later - the finished product!  

So excited to get this to Samuel - he picked great colors and I love how it turned out!

linking up here for the first time:

Cari's Around-the-Clock Bridal Shower

A few weeks ago I hosted a bridal shower for my beautiful friend Cari, who gets married in just TWO WEEKS!  

We've been friends since we were 14. 

I can't believe that was NINE years ago. 

And I can't believe she's getting married.

Kim and I are both in the wedding. 

She's a killer bridesmaid.

I'm working on my MOH (maid of honor) skills. 

She flew in for the shower. 

We <3 John Wayne Airport. 

And I chauffeured, as usual. 

We kind of have a system down. 

Which didn't include Kim's plane coming from Chicago and needing to be deiced OR my car getting it's 4th flat tire of the year. 

But Mable the Sable, my roommate Emily's car, came to the rescue yet again!

Thankfully I had plenty of help to get things ready, since I tend to plan high maintenance events.  

 My housemate Amanda helped frost clock cookies.

My housemates are bomb.com.

You can read our house blog here. 

Besides running a little late with the food preparation, everything went off without a hitch! 

Since it was an around-the-clock shower, I did breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert foods.  

Emphasis on the desserts, of course. 

 Kim made her baked brie. It's my FAVORITE. 

I made almond cupcakes, noir bars, and whoopie pies for desert. 

The whoopie pies were pretty gross. 

I don't recommend those whoopie pie kits.

Even if they are from World Market, which, in my eyes, can do no wrong.

But the noir bars and almond cupcakes made up for it.

These girls are wonderful friends. 

I love the unspoken understanding that comes with years of friendship. 

A day spent celebrating a dear friend is a day well spent. 

Times They Are A-Changin'

Man, what a crazy few months. I haven't blogged in so long because I've been overwhelmed by the amount of huge life events I could blog.

I'll give you the higlights:

I graduated from college,

spent 2.5 weeks studying for the board exams for 6-7 hours a day (and went crazy in the process),

celebrated the marriage of my dear friends Jessika and Jericho,

 drove up to the bay, took my boards (to get my RN),  started work at PCC's (Peninsula Covenant Church) Swim & Gym - my favorite summer job,

went to D.C. and Virginia for my housemate Linzy and her now HUSBAND, Dan's wedding,

visited some lovely friends in Maryland (happy birthday Emily!),

worked three weeks of camp,

turned 23 (which involved eating a quail egg,

a surprise sushi/ice skating night,

and a ZAMBONI ride! ),

PASSED my boards,

and tomorrow (actually today, since I've burned the midnight oil writing this post instead of packing) I  drive down to LA, braving CARMAGEDDON (the closing of 10 miles of the 405 freeway all weekend), so I can be ready to leave for Singapore and Cambodia on Tuesday!

Whew!

The summer's been jam-packed so far, full of life, transition and emotion. I can't wait to see what God does in Cambodia!  It's hard to believe we're leaving in just a few days.  It's hard to miss three whole weeks of camp, as God has been doing some incredible things in the kids here, but I know he's prepared the way for me to go to Cambodia. I've been moved by how God has used so many people to pour out His love in their generosity, kindness and affection. He is so faithful, and he is so good.

Gloria a dios!