pray.

I think prayer is such a simple task, yet hard to accomplish...for me at least. I can pray. I will pray. But I don't always believe what I pray. I am like the father in Mark with the sick daughter and Jesus tells him to believe. The father replies...."I do believe, but help my unbelief." I am that Father. I can sit and pray. That's easy, but I don't always believe that what I pray will transpire.

This leads me to the prayer that I have been praying for over a year now. I want a teaching job. I am ready for one. I feel prepared. I am excited. I am willing. I know God has this specific place for me. A specific classroom with the name "Miss Pierce" inscribed on a wooden block placed perfectly in the center of my old, antique looking wooden desk right next to the apple a student brought me last week. So I not only pray for the opportunity to have that teaching job this year, but I pray for His Will to be done.

Now it's time to believe all that I pray. I have an interview this coming Monday at a school I would LOVE to teach at. It is exactly the kind of place I want to be. I pray for it and I ask you to pray for it as well. I want the job...I get the chills just thinking that I may possibly have this opportunity.

God plainly tells us that He answers our prayers when we ask. So why I don't believe that, who knows. But it is time to start believing what I pray. Sit back and watch the Lord provide.

"To the faithful, He shows Himself faithful..." -Psalm 18:25

me gusta Cancun.

I have decided to stop posting albums on Facebook. It may be because I don't feel like I need to share so much of my personal life with the facebook world. Or it could be because I already spend too much time on there as it is. Making an album would just add to that. Or it may even be because I am getting more mature, more wise, more sophisticated and I want to save all the cool pictures for my blog. Who knows what the case may be, but with all that said, I sit here writing with itchy, peeling skin because I just got home from Cancun. It was a trip with the family to celebrate some major met goals, and boy, did we celebrate. We celebrated so much that we all came home with Montezuma's Revenge. For those of you who do not know what that is, look it up. It's real. Trust me.

The trip began with an early morning flight. We arrived at our resort to be handed glasses of champagne while our bags were personally delivered to our room. That's when the trip began....

The lobby.

After we settled in, we went to the first meal of the trip. A delicious meal overlooking the ocean. And after that, we found out that room service will give you anything you want. In that case, we took them up on the offer. Midnight rolled around. Teddi and I made a phone call. A cheeseburger, french fries, and delicious taquitos were delivered to our room.

A typical day in the life of a Pierce on vacation looked like this: Wake up, take a short run on the beach, either order room service or go to a restaurant for breakfast, lay out, lay out, get a drink, lay out, read, lay out, take a nap, each lunch, take a nap, lay out, get a drink, maybe take another nap while laying out and then finally head inside. Boy, did the days wear me out.

Nights were always fun. We would dress up and head to one of the six restaurants they had at the resort. Every place would serve at least a four course meal that was to DIE FOR. A few times I really thought I died and gone to heaven.

A few excursions were penciled in...if you count snorkeling, traveling to a town, and going to the spa. But when we weren't doing those things, we were either eating, sleeping, or tanning. It was great.

Thanks to Megan for getting her Master's. Thanks to Doug for passing his CPA exams, and thanks to me for graduating college (in four years with my credential thank you very much). Without these accomplishments and of course, my parents for giving us this vacation, it would not be possible. As they always say, "This trip deserves to be in a photo book."

His will.

I have to say that this is the year in which I have learned that God's will is not only the best for me, but it will be done. I can't begin to think of all the things I tried to do, whether that be moving away, finding a full time teaching job, and even the little things....when they were not in God's will, they did not get done.

At first, I was frustrated and kept asking God, "why, why why?" Then my mindset began to change. I really began to learn about God's will. I threw my hands back and said, "Alright God, you know what is best for me. I will do my part. I will do what I am called to do and let You work everything else out."

And that is exactly what He has done. When I sat back and actually let Him guide my life, I began to see all He is doing and all the good that comes from it. He really does know what is best. And when we sit back and let Him actually work, man, He does a lot. The best part of it all....it is good.

When I begin to feel discouraged, overwhelmed, or discontent I remind myself that...

-His Will will be done in my life.

-His Will is what is best for me.

-He is sovereign.

-He is faithful.

I will sit back and let Him be the driver of me and not the other way around. Because Lord knows I am one horrible driver who never pays attention, never follows rules, and believes I can text and drive at the same time.

"Our Father in heaven

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven...."

..........

...some interesting things I have either been learning,

discovering, or thinking about lately....

1. Hulu now charges $7.99 a month to watch their shows! So much for trying to watch Teen Mom 2.

2. Redbox has an app. You can find the closest Redbox to you and even see what movies that box has. Are we in the 21st century or what!

3. Tupman, CA is really a town. Smallest town I have ever seen.

4. When I was in Kenya, we had to hand wash all our clothes which was a difficult and time consuming process. Apparently, we weren't very good at it......... if we were, the kids would not have taken over and given us dirty looks. So anyways, I think it is so crazy that all I do here in America is literally throw my clothes into this huge metal machine, pour some soap in a dispenser, push some buttons and an hour later, my clothes are fresh and clean.

5. 89,000 avocadors are used on a daily basis at Chipotle.

6. CSUB is in fact run by the state...according to the police officer who pulled me over at 6:30am.

7. Starbucks offers ceramic mugs to those who are drinking their coffee in the store. Now I don't have to feel so bad about throwing away my paper sleeve. I do wonder how many people sink out of the store with their mugs....

8. Kids are getting worse and worse these days. It really makes me so sad...for a few reasons. One: I signed up to be their teacher. Two: My own children will be home schooled, sheltered, loners because I will not allow them out into the crazy real world. And I told myself I would never home school my kids.

9. April is right around the corner and I will be gone 13 days out of the 30. Ohhh my. I literally just realized that.

things.

....things I do....and things I don't do....

-I pick my split ends. Way too much. My mom tells me my hair is going to completely fall out one of these days.

-I press snooze too many times. They say that if you place your alarm on the other side of the room, it will force you to get up. Not that I have ever done that, but one of my old roommates did and it never worked for her. If it didn't work for her, it ain't gonna work for me.

-I pick my nails when I am nervous. That's why I keep them short.

-I cook. And I've been getting pretty good at it if I do say so myself. My mom recently began cooking these crazy meals...she told my dad she has a tough competitor.

-I comment about EVERYTHING. Sometimes funny. Sometimes honest. Sometimes dumb. But I always have a comment. I am a woman of many words.

-I look at expensive clothing store websites and try to mimic the model's clothing. The only difference is that my clothes come from Target, Old Navy and TJ Maxx and theirs is expensive.

-I drive fast. I have always wanted to be a race car driver so I pretend like I am one.

-I do not sit on public toilet seats. Although research has shown that the toilet seat is the cleanest part of the bathroom, that's just gross. I don't want someone else's butt to come into contact with my own.

-I do not touch cats. No comment.

-I do not bake. Too many times have I messed up recipes and ruined what could have been a little piece of heaven. I have given up on all baking. Plus Panera Bread's anything is amazing.

-I do not like to read instructions. Of any kind. This is the part of my personality...I do not like to be told what to do. I want to figure it out on my own.

-I do not drive more than 5 miles when my empty light is on. I give everyone a hard time for running out of gas so I can never be the one to do it.

-I do not leave the house without my Aquafor. For you non-aquafor users out there, Aquafor is a vasaline like chapstick but 100 times better than vasaline.

-I do not like to sharpen pencils. As a teacher, I feel like sometimes that is all I do and I hate it. The sharpeners always ruin the pencil and I stand there for 5 minutes trying to fix it.

Of course I have more things I like to do and more things I do not like to do. I just can't think of them right now.

time to...

start blogging again!

I can't believe I let it go so many months without updating something I really love. Really, it's something I really love to do.

I was re-inspired to start writing again when I began reading this book, Bittersweet. The author writes about her life and the struggles she faced during a time of transition. She is such a creative writer in sharing her thoughts, and I said to myself, "It's time. It's time to start this blog up again." I was inspired.

So here goes nothing. I'll write my thoughts, whether they be funny, sad, profound, insightful, silly, crazy, boring, or anything. I'll write them down and you can read 'em. Hope you enjoy.

Reflect.

Thinking of the year 2010 brings back many, many memories. As I sit with some hot cocoa on my velvet salmon colored hand-me-down chair (very cute I must say), I reflect on the many things that happened this past year. And there was a lot. Years go by so quickly, but so much happens in each of them. Year 2010 has been a year of adventure, change, growth, and new experiences. This year stands out compared to the rest...we'll see if 2011 does the same...

-JANUARY-

Month 1 is tough to beat. A few days after the new year, I embarked across the country to Kenya with a team of 9 others from Biola. Safe to say this month was life changing as well as a great beginning to the new year. I came home with a new outlook on life as well as a passion and confirmation that I want to be a teacher.

-FEBRUARY-

The first day of month 2, I found myself getting up rather early for my first last day of school. Instead of riding my bike to Biola like I did the semester before, I grabbed a cup of coffee, gathered my teaching supplies, and headed to a brand new elementary school to start student teaching. I was definitely nervous. Everything was going to be so new. Instead of seeing friends during lunch time, I would be sitting in a teacher's lounge with new faces. I liked to call myself a real "adult" during this month.

With all that said, this experience was phenomenal and confirming that God's timing and placing is divine.

-MARCH-

Not too much rings a bell for month 3, but what does come to mind is this...

My housemates and I loved to pull pranks on each other. Every chance we got, a prank would be pulled. This one particular prank, though, stands out. It was a Sunday night. Friends were over, but not too many housemates. My roommate and I thought it would be really funny to take Rachel's (housemate victim) clothes...ALL of them...and hide them. We did and we left. Rachel came home to find an empty closet.

A few hours later, we come back. I noticed my bed side lamp was out in the living room. I thought it was kind of funny, but didn't think much of it. Later, I went into my room to put something away to find that the two beds that used to be in my room were GONE. I screamed and began laughing. We ran outside searching frantically for our beds, but they never turned up. It was not until almost 1am that Rachel, the housemate victim, returned our beds.

14522 Biola Ave holds so many memories.

-APRIL-

Month 4 was a very busy month. It began with Easter at my aunt's house in Santa Ynez, then I was home for a week to spend time with my family and relax. Teddi's prom just happened to be the week I was home, so I got to take lots and lots of pictures of her and actually see her all dressed up in person!

Another weekend was spent throwing a bridal shower for my cousin that was put together by myself and the bride's sister-in-law. I'll be honest, though, I really didn't do much planning.

Probably the best weekend of month 4, though, was celebrating my golden birthday on the 22nd! A big group of my girlfriends and I got together and went out to dinner. It was so much fun to have friends all the way back from freshmen year around one table...one friend coming all the way from Missouri. :-)

-MAY-

Month 5 was a staple month...because...I graduated! It was a busy month of hanging out with friends, staying up late and getting up early, and lots of last minute run arounds so I could walk across the stage. It was the last full month of sleeping in our house and the last full month of making sweet memories at Biola. Month 5 was bittersweet, more bitter because I was not ready to move on.

-JUNE-

Month 6 brought about many changes. I moved out of our house, cried like a baby, and moved all my things home. I really didn't know what the future held at that time and remember the reality of needing to make decisions set in. It was a tough month, to say the least. I felt like I had so much on my mind that needed to be taken care of, but I was not ready for it.

After being a nomad in LA for...just a week...I officially moved home and began packing two suitcases hoping I could get them under 50 pounds...

-JULY-

I got on a plane in California and got off in Colorado. For a part of the summer, I lived in Estes Park and worked at Camp Timberline. It was a GREAT summer where many memories were made. I was a camp counselor and basketball coach to some pretty awesome kids. Not only did the campers grow, but I myself, grew and learned so much.

Special Event- I was a bridesmaid in my cousin's wedding. :-)

-AUGUST-

Well, if I controlled my life with my nut sized brain, I would be living in Indonesia, teaching at a school right now. But at the end of July, I found out that my plans fell through, God shut that door, and when the end of camp came in month 8, I really had no idea what I was going to do.

I came home and began planning where I could live. After much searching and planning, God (again) shut the door of what I thought I was going to do and I decided to live permanently at home until I found something that could work out.

-SEPTEMBER-

Month 9 was a month full of changes (once again). Now that I think of it, I feel like every month is full of changes. After searching what feels like forever for a full time teaching job and not finding a single one to even apply for, I started to substitute teach, something I was not looking forward to.

By the end of month 9, I was finally cleared to sub and found out that it wasn't so bad after all. I was feeling a bit down with everything that had happened in the months past and when I got to do something I love, my spirits were lifted and still are to this day.

Special event: My close friend from high school got married this month. :-)

-OCTOBER-

Month 10 was another busy month, a very good month. I began working full time substitute teaching and got to know a few schools very well. I now work at these most days rather than going to a new school each day (I actually feel like I know people now!).

Every weekend seemed to be filled with out of town events, putting miles on my car and pictures on my camera.

-NOVEMBER-

I'll be honest. Not too much sticks out in month 11. Thanksgiving. Family time. Working. Thinking of what is next.

-DECEMBER-

Who doesn't say that the month of December isn't busy for them??? It sure was for me. Beside Christmas gatherings, what sticks out the most for me is....I bought my first car! And my last until I pay this puppy off. Now I am learning what it means to be an adult.

I also worked down in LA for two weeks, lived in Marina Del Rey and commuted East every morning. Those poor LAers that do that every morning. I would be a reck if that was me; traffic is awful! On the bright side, I got to hang out with many friends every day!

***

It was a jam packed year that I will remember for a very, very long time. As I reflect, I am reminded how blessed I truly am in the midst of these changing times. I have learned how God is sovereign. He is good. He is faithful. And I will put my hope in Him.

"The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.

Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself,

'The Lord is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in Him!'"

-Lamentations 3:22-24

Bring it on 2011.