I believe that Jesus is truly the only way…

...And I celebrate Christmas because it’s His birthday. –Owl City.

Christmases at my house are usually pretty relaxed. On Christmas Eve, we open the presents under the tree. On Christmas day, we eat a delicious breakfast and open our last present or two. In the afternoon, we always go to a movie, and have a nice dinner in the evening.

This year, we went to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader in Duluth. I really enjoyed the movie. My mom thought it was kind of slow, but I loved it. The rest of my family seemed to enjoy it, too.

We decided to save our nice dinner and have it another night. Instead, we went right from the movie to Bentleyville, a huge light display that’s right next to Lake Superior. It used to be in Cloquet, but it got to be too big, so they moved it to Bayfront Park. This is a beautiful location, but it also means that it’s going to be freezing cold. As luck would have it, the bitter wind was awful. Nevertheless, we walked through it all. I took pictures until I could hardly move my fingers. Please enjoy:

Entering Bentleyville.

The brother. Bokeh explosion included.

The whole fam.

Warming up and roasting marshmallows.

The lift bridge is one of my favorite things about Duluth.

The nativity, of course.

And just in time for Christmas... Noah's ark!

Only in Duluth.

The siblings.

The sister. Another bokeh explosion.

Lighted snowflakes... Beautiful.

The tallest Christmas tree in the Midwest at 120 feet.

I'm a snowfall kind of girl.

I think I forgot how beautiful snow is.
Sure, it’s plenty annoying sometimes.
But it certainly is beautiful.

The siblings.

I love wearing boots and scarves.

Liz brings the class.

That's my favorite scarf ever.

I love my sister.

Surprises and band concerts.

Today was a day filled with surprises.
It was wonderful.

It’s my dad’s birthday, so Liz and I wanted to do something for him. My parents thought that Liz had to work in the afternoon, and we would be returned home later in the evening. In reality, she had gotten work off a couple of weeks ago. So this morning we got up and headed north.

After about a half hour of driving, my mom called my sister. She was surprised that we were already up, but we told her we had gone out for breakfast before Liz had to work. My mom then informed us that a bad snowstorm was coming that afternoon, and she didn’t want us driving home in it. We told her that was probably the safest thing to do and that we would see her tomorrow. My mom then wanted to talk to me, so Liz handed me her phone. My mom read me an e-mail she had received from Southwest telling her that I would be given a flight voucher for my flight cancellation. Score. At least I got something out of all that madness.

I got off the phone, and Liz and I laughed about how awesome our surprise was going to be now. After two hours in the car, we arrived at the school where my dad works. We went inside and snuck into the back of his classroom. The students were watching a movie and my dad was sitting at his desk, working on something. Liz and I started to cough obnoxiously. Some of the students turn around immediately, but it took my dad a minute to look up. Once he did, confusion initially crossed his face. He came and hugged us and asked us where we were doing there. We explained the whole situation and told him that Mom didn’t know yet so he couldn’t ruin the surprise. Liz gave him a birthday gift and we talked with him for a little bit.

It’s just over a ten-minute drive from my dad’s school to our house, so we were home soon enough. Oh, our humble abode. It was beautiful to see it again, especially all covered in snow.

Liz and I pounded on the front door, and we could hear my mom going to open the door. We heard her tell someone on the phone that there was someone at the door. She opened up to our smiling faces and began laughing. She told the person on the other end that she had to go because her daughters were home. It was wonderful.

When my brother was going to be getting out of school, we had my mom text him telling her she would be picking him up. Otherwise, he’ll walk or get a ride from a friend. Instead of my mom going, though, Liz and I parked where my mom had told Isaac she would be. And then we waited. And waited. No Isaac. Finally, we got a hold of him and he had walked home. So much for that surprise. My grandma lives right down the block, though, so we went to see her for a few minutes, and she was surprised to see us.

This evening, my brother had his Christmas band concert. Liz had told him that we wouldn’t be home in time to go, so it was fun that we were doing so. Isaac plays percussion, and he did a great job. After the concert, my dad took this picture of the girls:

Three generations! Grandma, mom, Liz, me.

It’s been a full day of driving, surprises, and reunions.

I am finally home.

Peppers, gnomes, and record players.

Before Liz and I headed home, we spent a couple of nights at her apartment. We spent most of the time just hanging out and enjoying time together. After my exhausting travels, it was nice to be able to relax. For the first time in four months, with the exception of Thanksgiving break, I slept alone in a room. It was crazy.

However, my sleep schedule is completely messed up, and my body thinks I’m still on the West Coast. Hopefully that will get straightened out soon. I skyped Madeline one night, and Mackenzie came to say hello, too. It’s only been a few days and I already miss them like crazy.

Just for fun, here are a few pictures from my time at my sister’s place:

Liz made us pasta and peppers, mushrooms, and onions.

This is a friend of Willis'. Perhaps a brother. I'm not entirely sure.

Tea lights and Christmas tree bokeh.

My sister's record player. I bought her that Mumford record for her birthday.

All in a day’s travel (Part 3 of 3).

Well, on the plus side, I found some rest, even for the short time. On the down side, however, my shoulder and back ache something fierce. I can hardly lift my arms all the way up. Yikes. But first, the conclusion of my travels…

I did, indeed, wake up to my phone going off at 4 am. I sat up and looked around. Most people had left the gate, but some were still scattered about and sleeping. People slept wherever they could—laying on the chairs, sprawled across the floor, sitting up. I gathered my things and made my way to the departure board. Making note of my new gate number, I headed that direction.

Between my level of sheer exhaustion and the weight of my bag, it was a bit of a struggle to move. Luckily, it wasn’t too far of a walk. Those moving sidewalks were certainly appreciated. There were very few people in the airport, but my new gate was buzzing with all those anxious to head to Minneapolis. I snagged a seat in the corner, next to an outlet. I plugged in my computer and fiddled around on it until it was time to board.

Once on the plane, I took a seat next to the window so I could lean and sleep. An older couple sat down next to me. I texted my sister to tell her we were leaving. But then we sat there. This wasn’t looking good for a flight that had been canceled once. Our 5 am departure time was fulfilled at 5:25 am instead. I remember taking off, but I fell asleep pretty quickly after that. I woke up to an announcement that we would be landing soon.

I looked out the window, and smiled at the familiar beauty—snow covered everything. This was home. I was almost there.

I don't think I've ever been so excited to see snow.

Doing my best to wake up, I smiled at the couple next to me. I asked them where they were heading. They told me they were going to visit their children in the Twin Cities and then head up north. In turn, I told them I would be staying with my sister in the area for a couple of nights and then head home, near Duluth.

The gentleman asked where exactly, and when I told him Cloquet he said that they had passed through there once. He asked me if I knew where Bemidji was; I smiled, informing him that I had family there. They would be heading that way. The lady told me that when they had moved out to Arizona, they hoped their children would come visit, but they rarely did. Instead, they decided to travel back to Minnesota to see them. I smiled once more.

At 9:15 am we landed. I struggled with my luggage and made my way off of the plane. A sense of relief filled me as I walked into the airport. I had finally made it. I walked down the stairs, and my eyes searched for my sister. She must have been looking for me, too, because soon I found her coming toward the stairs, smiling. I dropped my bag and almost cried as I hugged her. It had been four months since I’d seen her.

Once we got my two checked bags off of the carousel, we headed toward Liz’s car. She had brought me a coat since I didn’t have any winter clothing, so I threw that on, but left it open.

When we first stepped outside, I took a deep breath and let the bitter chill fill my lungs. It was beautiful. The cold didn’t even bother me. I found it rather refreshing. I may not have reached Cloquet yet, but I smiled, realizing that I was finally home.

All in a day’s travel (Part 2 of 3).

How quickly a day can turn. It’s currently 1:51 am as I write this, and sleep is weighing heavily on my eyes. To my left sits my carry-on bag and to my right is my computer bag. Yes, I am still in the airport. But before I get ahead of myself, let me finish about this morning…

After such a pleasant breakfast, I headed to my dorm to take care of some last-minute tasks. I called Campus Safety to see if the lost and found had my gray fleece jacket that I had lost two months prior. I was informed that I could go to their field office to take a look. I figured that I might as well go check it out.

First, I went and sold back two of my books. I checked my mail for the last time this semester, and then headed to search for my jacket. I explained the situation to the officer and he took me to where they keep the items they collect. After digging through a giant bin, I pulled out my jacket! I was thrilled.

I then made my way back to Horton. The light mist from earlier in the morning had started to turn into a gentle drizzle. In my room, I finished packing my bags. What an event. I had to pull out the classic sit-on-your-bag-and-then-zip-it-shut trick. But let me tell you, it worked like a charm.

I still have a program to finish for my computer class, but I didn’t want to take my book home. I headed to the library to make copies of the pages from my book that I would need. Once I was done there, I went to the caf to meet Kyle, Andrew, and Charlie for lunch before I would have to leave. On my way back to Horton, I ran into a friend of mine and got to issue him a thank you that I had been meaning to, along with a hug and a final goodbye. Back in my dorm, I carried my things down to the lobby and checked out. Clarke loaded my luggage into his truck, I said goodbye to the boys, and we hit the road.

The ride was rather enjoyable. There’s nothing quite like the combination of good music, conversation, and laughter. I had a slight scare when I thought we had missed our exit, but luckily Clarke is a pro with a map, and we continued on our journey to the airport without a hitch. Once there, Clarke helped me carry in my ridiculously heavy luggage inside, and I hugged him goodbye.

I got through the line for Southwest in five minutes, and I headed to the line for security. The Ontario airport isn’t that big, but the security line was back to the baggage claim. My flight wasn’t for another hour and a half, though, so I wasn’t too worried. Eventually, I made my way through the line and to my gate. It was there that I wrote the first part of this story.

My flight to Phoenix was delayed 20 minutes, which normally wouldn’t have been a big deal, but my layover there was only suppose to be 50 minutes long. I called my parents, trying to figure out what I should do. They told me they would go online and call me back when they learned more about my flight. I eventually boarded my plane, settling for a middle seat so that I could be near the front of the plane in case I needed to run to catch my next flight.

Two minutes before I had to turn my cell phone off, my parents called me back. My mom told me that my plane to Minneapolis had been delayed until after 10 pm, and wouldn’t get in until 2 am. Upset, I hung up the phone and tried to relax with the news of this change. Apparently it worked, because I don’t even remember taking off—I fell asleep that fast.

When my plane landed in Phoenix, I heard another passenger on their phone saying that flight 1467—my flight—was delayed until 11 pm. I was not pleased about this. It didn’t seem that things could get much worse. Oh, how wrong I was.

I got off the plane, checked the board for what my new gate would be, and then headed toward it. My carry-on bag was hurting my shoulders it was so heavy, filled with books I want to read over break. Upon my arrival at my new gate, I saw that my flight had indeed been delayed until 11:15 pm. I had no idea why. The gate was crowded, so I found a spot on the floor in front of a custodial closet that had an outlet I could use for my computer.

I tried getting on to the internet, but it wasn’t working. For whatever reason, it kept failing. My frustration heightened. I was exhausted, but didn’t want to sleep until I got on the plane. I was hungry, but didn’t want to get up and lose the use of the outlet. Not to mention, there’s nothing quite like dealing with the stress of traveling and being completely alone. However, God quickly reminded me that He was at work.

As I was listening to music and trying to get the internet to work, I realize that two people had stopped right in front of me and were just standing there. I look up to see two familiar faces—Andrew and Kendall. I can hardly speak because I am so relieved to see people that I know. I set down my computer and stand up to hug them, explaining the state of my affairs. They had flown out of a different airport than me, but their plane to Washington had been delayed. They sat down with me and pulled out their computers, too. I enjoyed the presence of my friends until it was almost time for them to board.

Andrew took out his computer, too.

About half hour later, my flight got delayed until 12:10 am. I wouldn’t be getting to Minneapolis until after 4 am. I couldn’t believe this. My whole body ached with exhaustion. I was afraid of falling asleep and missing my flight, though, so I stayed awake. I passed the time by chatting with my friends on facebook and listening to good music. At quarter to 11 pm, the board changed—the flight was delayed another 15 minutes, now it would be 12:25. The progression of these times wasn’t looking good. I had no idea why it kept being delayed, either. I had called my sister, who was going to be picking me up in Minneapolis, and she said that they didn’t have bad weather. At 11:15 pm, my departure time changed again. My new time was 1 am. This was not what I had originally had in mind.

However, I was determined to make the best of my time. Trying not to think about the fact that I should already be in Minnesota, I worked on putting new music onto my ipod and ipad. At midnight, though, an agonizing announcement came over the intercom: the crew for my flight had timed out. My flight was canceled. All the flights to Minneapolis for the next day were full. I would be sleeping in the airport. Awesome. I called my sister to let her know. I tried hard to remain calm, but I was really upset.

I called my friend Derek from home just to vent about the situation. A few minutes later, they announced that they were creating a new flight for us that would leave at 5 am. They had a plane and were working on finding a crew. I would be arriving in Minneapolis after 9 am. That’s only 10 hours later than I was suppose to be landing.

They did bring us complementary snacks and drinks, though, which I thought was nice.

Good thing I honestly love cran-apple juice.

People are absolutely furious, though. And I’ll be real with you, I was pretty upset at first. However, for me it wasn’t anger so much as sadness. It’s a strange feeling, really, being caught in your travels. I don’t know if you’ve ever experienced it, but you just get so anxious to reach your destination. I left a place I love to head to another place that I love, and I’m trapped between them, unable to experience either. The feeling is amplified when you’re alone, too.

But now, I need some rest. It’s been a long day, as you can imagine. I’m going to sleep with my head on my computer bag, and hold onto the strap of my other carry-on. You know, just in case. I am going to set my alarm for 4 am, and then find my new gate.

I hope I find rest.

All in a day’s travel (Part 1 of 3).

Rush, rush, rush.
Then wait.
Keep waiting.

Welcome to a day in traveling to the airport. As I write this, I’m sitting in the Ontario International Airport, waiting to board my flight to Phoenix. From there, I have to catch my connecting flight to Minneapolis. Oh, Minnesota. It has been four months since I’ve been there. Four months since I’ve seen anyone in my family. I can hardly express the depth of my excitement in words.

But this is the part where I wait. I look outside, and the rain is pouring down. Yes, pouring. Thank you, SoCal. You always pick the best days for it to rain. The flight coming into my gate is delayed, thus my flight is delayed. I always have a fear of missing my connecting flight, but I’m going to try not to worry about that too much right now.

Strangers surround me. This is the first time in months that this has been the case. There is something almost refreshing about this. I can simply hide away amongst the faces.

My ears are being treated to the sounds of Brothers at Sea and Bon Iver. I am relaxed in a wonderful leather armchair, courtesy of Southwest. But before I let myself get caught-up in my current situation, I would like to share about how I reached this point today.

My morning started at 6:30 a.m. today. My days haven’t started this early since the beginning of the semester. However, this morning I didn’t really mind getting up. I potentially wasn’t going to be able to say goodbye to a friend of mine, but he invited me to eat breakfast with him before the start of his 17-hour workday—his second in a row. I happily obliged.

Thus, after a mere three hours of sleep I got up and took a shower. I arrived in the lobby three minutes before our scheduled meeting time. A minute later, I got a text from him saying he had just gotten up and would need a couple minutes. I smiled, knowing that feeling, and told him to take his time.

A short time later he made his appearance, and we headed to the caf for breakfast. We talked about the long day that he had ahead of him and the traveling that I would face. Given that it was just after 8 a.m. on a Friday, only a handful of people were sprinkled throughout the caf. We picked a table by the windows—my personal favorite.

I grabbed what would be my last breakfast in the caf for six weeks. Once we both sat back down, he prayed, and we began to eat. We made some small talk, and then I warned him that I was going to ask him a cliché question. “What has God taught you this semester?” I inquired. He informed me that, surprisingly, he had never been asked that question before.

He sat back in his chair. This question was not one to be answered hastily. He closed his eyes for a few moments, contemplation overtaking his expression. It wasn’t too long, however, before he leaned in toward the table and began to speak. He briefly explained to me situations he’d faced and choices he’d made in response to God’s leading. Continuing, he told me how through those times the Lord had reminded him of His love and that He ultimately has a plan for every detail of his life. Those words resounded with me. I couldn’t help but be filled with joy as I was reminded of the faithfulness of God.

Then it was my turn to answer the question. I hardly knew where to begin. God has done so much in my life and my heart that it still amazes me. I gave the abridged version of my semester, but I could have gone on so much longer. God is so good.

We left the caf, said goodbye, and our paths diverged. I walked back to my dorm with a smile on my face. That had been a great way to start off my day—sharing about God’s goodness. How wonderful it is to have friends to discuss that with.

And my friend, if you ever read this, I would like to thank you. Thank you for spending that time with me and sharing a little bit of your heart. Thank you for always being willing to listen. Thank you for reminding me of what a great God we serve.

Things I love about Biola || Comment Cards.

As you walk out of the caf, there is a bulletin board and blank comment cards to the left. You can write what you have to say, and usually in the evening, they respond on sticky notes. Sometimes people are rude, and I don’t like that. However, Sarah has left my favorite comments cards ever. Please enjoy:

Sarah just has a way with words.

"The turkey today was absolutely beautiful. Bon Appetit Team, I'm at a loss of positive adjectives to fully convey the joy and love we have for you."

This was after the Christmas dinner.

"My heart grew 10 sizes too big when I sunk my teeth into the pork and noodles.
God bless us, everyone, but especially you."

Cutting hair and newspapers.

I really love cutting hair. I’ve been cutting my own hair for over six years. I haven’t had a professional haircut since sixth grade. Within the last couple of years I have been cutting my friend’s hair, and I cut my brother’s hair regularly.

I had cut three people’s hair this semester, and Sarah’s hair was my forth. She has really thick, beautiful hair. She really just needed a trim and to have her hair layered again. As I always do, I put newspaper down on the floor for an easy clean-up and then got a stool. I started by cutting Sarah’s hair wet, blow drying it, and layering it dry. I straightened her hair as I went, and it looked something like this afterward:

Believe me, it was a lot of hair.

I loved it. Because she has such thick hair, I could put in a lot of layers, and they looked great. I cut off a lot of hair, too. Sarah made a bird’s nest out of it, in fact.

I love this shot of Sarah:

We had way too much fun.

As of now, I don’t charge for haircuts.
So just let me know if you need one.

Birthday fro-yo.

On Halloween, Madeline, Hannah, Charlie, Salena, and myself had gone to Yogurtland just for fun. We had such a good time that we kept talking about how we needed to go there again.

But then we never did.

So, for Madeline’s birthday, we decided that we had to finally make the trip. However, we went to Berry Cool instead this time. We played bumping music, and Charlie, Salena, and I jammed out in the backseat. It was so much fun.

At Berry Cool, we all got our fro-yo and sat down to enjoy it. We laughed and talked about going home. It’s getting closer.

The fro-yo crew.

She's the best.

Happy birthday, Madz. I love you! You’re finally 18!

Things I love about Biola || DBC.

I don’t really like to brag, but one thing I will say about Biola is that we have the coolest university president. Ever. I’ve mentioned him in previous posts, but I shall recap. Dr. Barry Corey—known to students as DBC—has been the president for just a few years now. He might as well be a celebrity on campus. I mean, everyone cheered when he showed up at our all-hall.

I hear all kinds of people bragging about getting to meet him and getting their picture with him. And I’ll be honest, I feel pretty awesome that he knows me by name and I have a picture with him.

Also, he is an absolutely fantastic speaker, no matter who he is addressing. Every time I hear him give a speech, I’m really inspired.

He invites students to add him on facebook, and he’s currently sitting at nearly 5,000 friends, I believe. From time to time, he posts pictures with students that he’s met in one way or another. He eats in the caf a lot and will sometimes just sit and eat with random students. Recently, this was his facebook status:

I obviously liked his status.

How many university presidents do you know that will do that?
Or, perhaps, do something like this for a staff Christmas party:

So legit.

He sang a version of The Sound of Music’s “My Favorite Things” while playing the guitar, and the students played various instruments.

So, yes, it’s official.
DBC = Coolest university president of all time.

Those Christmas lights...

One of the halls in Hart hosts an event called “Deck the Haven.” (Yes, the name of the hall is Haven). Basically, each room picks a different Christmas-related theme. However, not all of them are particularly Christmas-y, but that’s okay. People are invited to walk through the hall and in each of the different rooms. A lot of the rooms have treats for people to enjoy, too.

The walls of the hall are absolutely covered in Christmas lights. Some of you may be able to imagine that this made for some awesome bokeh shots.

I can't get enough bokeh. Ever.

The rooms were really fun to walk through. One of my favorites was a nursing home theme. The two guys whose room it was were both in wheelchairs, telling stories of the “good ol’ days.” Another room was set up based off of the movie “A Christmas Story.” A different one that I really like was covered in shredded paper to look like snow, with dozens of snowflakes hanging from the ceiling.

I have to hand it to them, some of those guys were really creative. Well done.

Hiking to the Hollywood sign, or: The Amish would be puking.

My friend Katey decided that she wanted to hike to the Hollywood sign. Charlie and Annie were completely on board. It was probably 7:30 pm when she suggested doing so, and they wanted to leave right away. I wasn’t feeling very well, though, and I didn’t want to go at first. However, Katey soon convinced me to come with, so I went and got changed. We wanted another guy to come with us, and I suggested we invited Mackenzie. I called him and told him what we were doing and that he should come. After some hesitation, he decided that we would come with us.

We all met in the lobby just after 8 pm, and headed to Hollywood in Katey’s car. We sang along to the music in her car, laughed, and just enjoyed each other’s company. After about a half hour drive, we arrived at the bottom of the trail. We parked on a residential street so we wouldn’t look sketchy. And then our hike began.

We followed the signs that pointed the way, and it wasn’t long before we got a full view of the LA lights. We stopped so that I could snap a few pictures.

My favorite picture from the night.

We then continued on our way, staying quiet and discrete, as to not to cause any problems. The trail twisted in all kinds of crazy ways, but Annie had pulled a map up on her phone, so we had some direction of where we were going.

At one point, we realized that there was a man on the top of one of the peaks. We couldn’t tell if he was facing toward us or away from us, though. We then noticed that he had a horse with him, though, so we thought he must be taking a little night ride. We continued on our ascent, looping behind the guard tower, which had bright lights all around it. Once around the corner, we met a fence with a sign warning against trespassing. For a minute we couldn’t tell where we were, and then we realized that the sign was right past the fence it front of it—the trail had taken us behind the sign.

We spent a few minutes taking in the city lights, and I shot some more pictures.

As Charlie noted: "There's so many freaking lights! The Amish would be puking right now!"

Charlie really wanted to go down to the sign, but we were worried about getting in trouble. The sign told of 24-hour surveillance, and it didn’t seem like a good idea to risk it.

Given that it had taken us nearly 45 minutes to reach the sign, we figured we should start heading back down. We walked in quiet for most of the way. Charlie got a little bit a head of us, so I sped up a bit to catch up with him. He told me that there was a guy on a ridge above us, so we should just keep walking as to not look suspicious. We walked in silence, with the other three a little bit behind us. During that time, they saw a man lifting his arms toward the sky and turning around, but I never did.

All of a sudden, Charlie and I heard a guy talking really loud behind us. I asked Charlie if that was Mackenzie. It was weird, though, because we had all been so quiet this whole time. I then turned around to see four dark shadows. Someone had joined our three friends. Completely confused, I stopped to wait for them. Charlie stopped, too. As they got closer, I saw that the addition figure was a man with a backpack, walking stick, and serious beard. He said some parting words and took a different path than we did.

Mackenzie began to explain to us what had happened. He said that he realized there was someone a little bit behind them. He though to himself, what would my dad do? and decided to say hello. He called out a hello to the figure. No response. He said the next 30 seconds were the scariest of his life as he called out hello a second time. This time, the man responded and began talking with them. Apparently he tries to make the hike two or three times a week.

As we were nearing the end of our hike, we turned around to look at the sign. Because it’s not lit up at night, I did what I could to snap a picture of it.

There it is... THE Hollywood sign.

We had certainly hiked a long way. Once we made it back to Katey’s car, we got inside and breathed a sigh of relief. We could finally talk at a normal volume again.

Katey had never seen any of Hollywood, so we drove down Sunset blvd and Hollywood blvd just for kicks. By this time, it was after 11 pm, and we were really hungry. Because Hollywood is kind of sketchy, we decided just to go to In-N-Out back in La Mirada.

Once there, we got burgers, fries, and shakes, and laughed about what we had just experienced. We tried to rationalize who were all the figures that we saw. At a later time, Mackenzie made this assertion regarding the experience:

“The man who we saw with his horse just standing and walking was a different guy. The most logical reason for a man to be on a horse ride at 10 in the evening on the hills of Hollywood was to kind of do a round up of the area. He belonged to... that horse place down in the little valley there and was making sure all was clear after sunset. After we came back down, the man with his hands raised worshipping who knows what was the same man who we saw walking up from behind us (thanks to Annie's hawk eyes). He said he does the hike at least 3 times a week, so naturally he would know the in's and out's of the trail—shortcuts and such. If he hiked often, I think he could be quiet if he really wanted to be. The mystery still is why he would be so secretive with all black on...”

We will never know the truth behind these mysterious figures. However, there is one thing I do know: none of us are likely to forget that night anytime soon.

Nothing quite like Christmas sprinkles.

I’m a huge fan of Mosaic. It’s such a great group of guys, and they’re a great brother floor. Because of this, I decided that I wanted to bake them Christmas cookies. I bought the ingredients for double batches of monster cookies and sugar cookies, and spent an entire afternoon baking. And that is no joke.

Luckily, three of my friends were willing to help me on this endeavor. We started with the monster cookies. Once you’re talking nine cups of rolled oats, the amount of dough is pretty large. It was delicious, though—before and after being baked.

Sarah's amazing photography skills.

Once the monster cookies were rolling, we moved on to the sugar cookies. The dough was a little too soft, so I had to cool it for a bit. Once it was ready, I rolled them into balls and rolled those in sugar.

Sugar cookies in the raw.

When the oven was available, I flattened the dough on the pan and put on sprinkles. There’s nothing quite like Christmas sprinkles.

Ahh, sprinkles.

After all the baking was done, I ended up with nearly ten dozen cookies. I didn’t even have room for them all; it was ridiculous. However, when we (The FOLD) surprised Mosaic with the cookies, they were really happy. Not to mention, everyone thought they were good, and I got a few compliments. That alone gave me plenty of satisfaction. 

Longtime rivals and longtime friends.

On December 7th, we played Azusa Pacific University—our biggest rival—in men’s basketball at APU. A group of my friends from Biola was going to the game, and I was excited to be going with them. Because I was a Trustee Finalist at APU, I have a number of friends that I met during that weekend who go to APU. One of my closest friends from high school, Chase, also goes there. Chase and I grew up in the same church, and I hadn’t seen him since August, so I was really looking forward to seeing him.

The game was packed with people. I had no sooner sat down when I received a text from my Trustee friend, Justin. He had seen me and informed me where they (the other Trustees) were sitting. I waved and replied to his text, telling him I would come visit at half time. And that I did.

I made my way over to them, going down their row, hugging each of them. We talked about our schools and the rivalry and laughed a lot. It was so fun to be reunited with them again. They’re such a fun group of people. I asked them if they had seen Chase at all, because they’ve gotten to know him over the semester. They said they had seen him, but had no idea where he was. Chase, who is notorious for not having his phone with him, hadn’t responded to my calls or texts. One of my friends helped me look for him, even asking some people that knew him, but he was not within sight.

I sat with my Trustee friends for the second half. A few minutes before it ended, Justin helped me look for Chase one last time. Nowhere to be found, I was going to head back to where my Biola friends were. I decided to take the long way around the court, though. I was nearing my original seat when I saw Chase. He was only a few up, and I stopped right in front of him.

“Chase. Pritchett. I have been looking for you everywhere,” I informed him.
“Oh my gosh…” He said and laughed.
“Do you know her?” I heard one of the guys Chase was with ask him.

I walked up to where he was and he gave me a hug. We sat down and talked about our semesters. When the game ended, we walked down to where I was going to be meeting my friends. He introduced me to a number of his friends, and I did the same when mine arrived. After chatting for a few more minutes, I hugged him goodbye and we headed our separate ways.

Even though Biola lost the game, I was in a great mood. I even shed a few tears of joy in the car. With all sorts of anxiety surrounding me, there was something incredibly comforting about being reunited with a familiar face. Now I’m getting really anxious to be home and in the familiar.

Less than 10 days. I can hardly wait.

My Journey.

Well this post has been a long time in the making. However, for lack of a better introduction, I will follow the words of my favorite Lewis Carroll quote: “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.”

Sometime in mid-September, I received a flyer in my mailbox to share my journey for a chance to win an iPad. The video contest invited people to make a movie about how they came to Biola. Although videos may not necessarily be my thing, I thought it would be really fun to make a stop-motion video. I planned out some of the photo sequences, but never got around to shooting them.

The video was due on YouTube at midnight on Sunday, October 31st. A few days before, I looked and found that there were no entrants for the contest. I didn’t have too much work to do that weekend, so I decided to put together the video that I had been planning. I asked Sarah if she would be willing to help me in some different ways. She was more than happy to do so.

I worked on it basically all of Saturday and Sunday. I wrote a script, and recorded the narration line-by-line in Garage Band. I then had to export the tracks to iTunes. That was one of the most tedious parts of the project. I shot a lot of the photos in Madeline’s room, because the set-up of her room was easier to work with than mine. Sarah helped me with getting good angles, making sure the shots were working, and putting together the background music in Garage Band.

After a lot of work and nearly 500 photos, I ended with the three minute video that you see below. My favorite part of the video is the ending. I posted the video less than 2 hours before the deadline.

I was pretty excited about the end project, but it’s far from perfect. Every time I watch it, I see something that I wish I had fixed. But hey, these things happen.

From there, I needed to get as many views as I could. I promoted it on my facebook, and my dad (a high school teacher) even told his students to watch it. When the viewing period ending, there were three days when people could vote for a video outside of the caf. I encouraged people to watch the videos and vote for mine. It was really encouraging when people told me how much they liked my video and that they voted for me. Once voting ended, the waiting began.

Well, the day before Thanksgiving break, I received an e-mail that said I had won. I was sitting outside of Common Grounds with a few friends when I got the message, and I had a little bit of an outburst. I was crazy excited. I texted some of my friends and told them, along with my parents and my siblings. I would be able to pick up my iPad once the order arrived.

But the excitement didn’t stop there. Over break, I had a phone interview with a writer from The Chimes, our campus newspaper, for an article that would be in the next issue. That next week, I met with a photographer who took a picture for the article. If you’re curious, you can read the article here.

That same week, I received an e-mail from a lady that worked with the Alum Association. She told me that she had seen the article and my video on The Chimes online and had loved it. She asked if I would be interested in having my video played and answering a few questions at a dinner they were having on December 4th. I replied and told her that I would love to do so.

The next day she called me to give me the specifics of the event. The President’s Circle dinner would be for alum and others that donate money to Biola, specifically for student aid. I informed her that I was a recipient of academic and need-based financial aid from Biola, and she said that was exactly what they were looking for. She then told me that for the dinner they would play my video and then invited me on stage to be interviewed by Dr. Corey. I was stoked. She asked me if speaking in front of nearly 500 people would be a problem for me. I almost laughed as I told her that crowds don’t bother me at all. I met with her in her office later that week, where she gave me the questions that I would be asked.

So the night came. I dressed in my favorite black dress and black heels, wearing jewelry that my mom had made me. I was assigned to table number two, one of the five head tables, and right next to DBC’s table. Before too many people were there, I snapped this picture of how fantastic everything looked:

I could hardly believe I was in the gym.

The others sitting at table two were big-time Biola donors and alum, along with the Biola VP and his wife. She was sitting right next to me, so I talked to her a lot. She asked me about my family and about Minnesota—two of my favorite things to talk about. The dinner was delicious, as was the dessert. I love cheesecake. After dishes were cleared, DBC came on stage and gave a great address regarding Biola and its future. He then began to talk about me.

He introduced the crowd to a freshman named Olivia Blinn, coming from a small town in Minnesota. He talked a little about my family and my background. He said that the Integrated Marking Committee had hosting a video contest, inviting students to share their story, and that here was the winning video.

My video then began to play. On two giant screens. In front of almost 500 people. So awesome.

When it was over, DBC said that he had heard a rumor that I was there with them, and he invited me on stage. He asked me what had stood out to me about Biola, what kind of obstacles I had to overcome to come to Biola, and how Biola would prepare me for my future. When I told them about the challenges I had to overcome, I told them about being able to cancel my loans because of the generous aid I received from Biola. Before I could even finish my “praise the Lord,” I got a round of applause.

Finally, he told me that I represent a large number of students that receive financial aid, and asked if there was anything that I would like to say to the crowd on their behalf. I told them that, first and foremost, I needed to give a huge, resounding thank you. They are the answers to student’s prayers, especially when it comes to figuring out how they’re going to pay for a private school education. They were the answer to my prayers.

I then made my way back to my seat, and DBC closed off as we headed into an intermission. I headed to the bathroom, and multiple people complimented me on my video and thanked me for speaking. It was incredibly humbling.

When the program resumed, the chorale and orchestra performed excerpts from Handel’s Messiah. At the very end of the program, I met Mrs. Corey, as well as a number of other people. I received even more handshakes and thank you’s than before. Here I was, a nineteen-year-old girl, speaking to a group of nearly 500 people—some of them three or four times my age—and here they were thanking me for sharing my story. I’ve never experienced anything like that.

Just before I left, I found DBC, and asked him for a picture. I thanked him for allowing me to be a part of the night, and he thanked me for speaking. He told me I did a great job, and that everyone had enjoyed it. I was thrilled.

Me and DBC!

An article about the event that night can be found here.

Still waiting for the snow to fall.

Biola has a tradition of having a Christmas tree lighting at the beginning of December each year. Students, parents, and alum alike come for the event. The entire area where it’s held is packed with people. I was at Biola Bound during this weekend last year, so I was excited for the event again.

Everyone is welcome to pick up a candle before the event starts, and then everyone lights them while we sing Christmas carols. The majority of the candles are lit after the tree is.

The lights in the background are from the trees next to the caf patio.

With all of the candles and different Christmas lights, I was really enjoying taking shots with neat bokeh in them. These are a couple of my favorites:

Nothing like a bokeh Christmas tree.

I'm fairly certain I'm addicted to bokeh.

As the event ended, it snowed in La Mirada!

Oh, fake snow...

The SUB was even lit up with snowflake outlines. It was like a little taste of home.

Gotta love giant snowflakes.

My friends and I hung out for a little while longer. We took pictures and chatted and laughed.

I love my friends.

There was hot cider, as well as ornament decorating.

Despite the lack of [real] snow, it’s beginning to actually feel like Christmas. I can hardly wait.

A Christmas morning in Horton.

Our end of the semester all-hall event was “A Christmas Morning in Horton.” Almost everyone wore their pajamas and there were different Christmas-related activities to enjoy in the lobby. There was snow-flake making, cookie decorating, and “Elf” to be watched. Krispy Kreme donuts, muffins, little cinnamon rolls, and candy canes were spread out for our eating enjoyment. There was even a wish list for people to write on.

Some people want the funniest things...

And then Santa came for everyone to take pictures with!

The Stipes men looking good in those cardigans.

I spent a lot of my time just talking to people I know and taking pictures. There was so much Christmas joy in one place. I really enjoyed it, because I hadn’t really gotten into the Christmas spirit yet. However, this time certainly lifted my spirits. 

My awesome RAs.

These are a few of my favorite people.

Maybe halfway through the evening, DBC showed up in the lobby. Everyone started cheering for him; it was awesome. DBC is basically a celebrity on campus. Because I had a camera in hand, a number of people asked me if I would take pictures of them and DBC. I didn’t mind doing so at all. However, every time I would go to take a picture, people would pack into it.

DBC with some Mosaic men, among others.

Once things settled down a little bit, we were invited to all sit down. We then sang some Christmas carols and DBC read us the Christmas story. After that, they did three raffle drawings for gifts.

People then started to leave. I stayed down in the lobby for a while, talking with some friends of mine. We discussed stereotypes of people from the Midwest and those from California. A lot of laughter was shared, which I always enjoy. It was a nice ending to a great evening.