It’s Here! It’s Here! It’s Here!

Surprised as I still am, I would like to report that we officially have possession of the Mustang!  I’ll take pictures of it later.  =)  I know I always promise pictures, but it’s just so much work to download/upload/do whatever the heck you have to do to post.  *sigh*  I’ll post them though just cuz I wanna show it to everyone.  =)

Jacob got back with the car yesterday afternoon at around 4ish, and shortly after that we were on our way to (OMG I just bit the hell outta my tongue….OWWWW) Santa Cruz.  It was so nice to have the freedom to go somewhere out of the immediate area of our apartment.  LOL  We went to the wharf and spent some time over there.  Went out to eat.  I got this really yummy pasta which I am going to go home and eat for lunch right now.  I’ll be right back.

‘kay… I’m back.  The left over seafood medly pasta was absolutely delish.  In fact, I do believe it was better today than yesterday at the restaurant.

My birthday is this weekend coming up.  I’m so happy that my job gives you your birthday off as a holiday + pay.  Since my birthday falls on Saturday, I get to take Friday off which in turn give me a 4 day weekend.  That’s HACKIN’ great!  Is it bad that I have an inside joke with myself and saying hackin’ anything probably doesn’t make sense to most people.  That is unless you go back an entry and watch the video I posted of Fred. =)

Now I remember what else I was going to write about… could you tell I was rambling while I thought about what I was going to write?  LOL

So I went to church yesterday morning.  Service was amazing!  They had some people from the Catholic Charities come to speak about sponsoring a refugee house for refugees that are allowed to be placed in the United States.  It was so incredible. 

There was a girl that was probably in her 20s but looked as if she wasn’t more than 15.  She was a refugee from Burma, and she shared her amazing story of her journey.  She explained to us how she was living in her village in Burma when she found out that she had a brother that was in a refugee camp in Thailand.  One day she left her village with a group of people and WALKED to this refugee camp in Thailand.  She mentioned how she walked over mountains for 3 days to get there (as if it was no big deal almost). 

She and her brother applied to be placed in another country at the same time, but her paperwork and everything else was processed faster than her brother’s and therefore she was sent to the United States absolutely alone.  She knew nobody here… didn’t know our language… had never lived in the modern type of environment that we take for granted here on a daily basis.  As soon as she got here, she was placed in a house in Sunnyvale where she learned how to speak, read, and write in the English language.  She learned everything she would need to know in order to live in our country.  She is thriving now here in the United States.  She came here with nothing.

Three of the women that work with and/or volunteer for the Catholic Charities also spoke of their experiences with being able to help these people who are basically thrown into our society on a wing and a prayer.  I was so moved by what they do everyday, and I strive to be even a fraction of what these women are everyday.  After having talked to my aunt who goes down to Mexico every year for a mission trip, I have wanted to do similar work.  Anything to make a difference in people’s lives that our less fortunate, but more than just donating money.  I want to volunteer my time and services to help as much as I can.

I feel like I was led to this church at just the right time.  As if God knew what I was really searching for when I started looking for this new church.  I’ve always admired my aunt for doing what she does when she goes down to the orphanage and church in Mexico (I’m hoping to meet up with her next year when she goes).  So the fact that I found this church a week and a half before these ladies came to speak to us makes me feel like I was definitely in the right place at the right time.  I’m going to send an email to Andrea (the church admin) and see what the next step for me would be in volunteering at the new house.  I feel this is just another exciting and very fulfilling step in this journey that I’ve personally started on.

After church, I was invited out to lunch with a bunch of the members of the church including the pastor and his wife.  They are such great people!  I continue to look forward to spending time with everyone each weekend.

So… I hope everyone has a great week this week.  Only 3 days of work left after today (for me).  =)

Laters,
JamieLynn =)