Changing Seasons

Summer is always ended by the only thing that has the power to end it... the beginning of school. Summer officially dies tomorrow (I know, you're rolling your eyes right now. You're right, it is always summer in Southern California). But tomorrow my sisters go back to school, my mom goes back to school, all the kids in the youth group go back to school and I go back to school.

School means the end of weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) beach trips complete with boogie boarding, surfing, sun tan lotion and post beach trip aloe parties. It means the youth group goes back to their regular sunday school and will stop coming over to the house on Sundays for pancakes, french toast, breakfast burritos or whatever my girls dream up. It means no more surprise visits from kids at work. It means homework, paper writing, test taking & late nights after long days at work. It means new, but not necessarily fun, priorities.

Yesterday, to mark the end of summer, we took the youth group to the beach for the last official "beach day." We left later than usual and stayed well into the night to have a beach bon-fire. It was a very long, but fun, day. I left the group sometime between smore's and loading up the car to take a walk by myself.

I walked along the waters edge letting the cold water roll over my feet as the waves came in until I felt I had put a significant space between myself and the kids I had just spent the day with, the kids I hold near and dear to my heart. I found a spot in the cold, wet sand just out of the waters reach and sat... and sat... and sat... and sat. I sat alone, in the dark, staring out at a black sea speckled only with the lights of ships in the distance, mesmerized by the enormous waves that came crashing in and then just as quickly were pulled back out. It was both beautiful and dangerous. As I sat alone in the dark staring at a black sea, I tried to quite my mind. But instead, my thoughts turned to exhaustion from a day spent with kids, the decision to pull back from the youth group a bit and focus on school, the school journey itself, the thought of selling the house and the reality of transitioning friendships as my permanence here becomes more real. Being overwhelmed by a job that takes 2years to learn but having to able to do it in 3months..... all things both trivial and meaningful about california life flowed freely in and out of my mind until I asked a question I have thought often in the past few months but ever only whispered and never dared to wait for an answer.... "why am I here?" only this time I listened. There was nothing overwhelming, no lightening bolt from heaven or a grand revelation of my future only a soft yet strong voice saying "I am here."

I sat in the dark, staring at the sea, watching the waves steadily, faithfully and confidently, as if with purpose, roll in and get swept back out for a bit longer. It was both beautiful and dangerous. Then I got up, walked along the waters edge, letting the cold waves wash over my feet, until I reached the bon-fire I had left.

Welcome To The World......

Congrats to Alex, Jacquie and big brother Sam on the arrival of Joel Reed!!!! Joel was born c-section 8/13 (two weeks early) weighing 8lbs 5 oz. Everyone is doing well and are expected to arrive home today!!!

A Long and Sad Goodbye

Tonight I said goodbye to one of my most favorite boys.

John was honestly an unlikely friend. He was the close friend of someone I was seriously crushing on. Initially he hung out to be the "third person" when we would do things. In the beginning I was slightly annoyed by him. His presence kept conversation from getting too deep (and quite frankly kept me from flirting shamelessly) but as my crush faded, we continued to hang out, and he is now one of my closest friends here. Only a handful of people can make me laugh as hard as he can (seriously, who wears a sparkly pink girl shirt with cap sleeves that says "Let's focus on me" to his birthday party) while remaining a amazing sounding board, not to mention a strong voice of reason.

He has very quickly become one of my favorite things about California life. So why goodbye....? here's the kicker- Tomorrow at 6am he is leaving to move to..... wait for it..... Philadelphia!!!!!!! Ironic huh?? Tonight was the last I'll see of a friend whom I'm used to seeing or talking to almost daily until October, and saying goodbye nearly (but not quite) brought me to tears.

Good bye #2 Kymbri is one of the most amazing unjaded, trusting young women I have ever met. There is a sweet innocence about her that makes it hard to believe that she has experienced any turmoil in her life ever... but that's definitely not the case. God has blessed her with amazing resiliency. She and I became close when we were the only two girls on a Colorado trip this past spring. We did everything together for a week, and I mean everything!!! I marveled (and still do) at her ability to have complete unwavering faith in God. She, with John, who happens to be her boyfriend, is leaving tomorrow morning at 6am to head to east coast where she'll be starting at Messiah in a few weeks.

The past few days have been a big long goodbye party. My heart is both sad for me, and excited for them (truthfully I'm a little more sad than excited... okay much more sad actually)!

Immortality

One of the coolest perks in my life right now is a close friendship with a wonderful married couple name Alex and Jacquie. Jacquie is an artist and a stay at home mom. Alex is a musician and is part of the incredibly cool band Five O'Clock People (not to mention the worship leader at my church). He also is a producers for bands he deems fit (seriously this guy has an impeccable ear). They are the type of friends that are obviously a gift from God in my life. My sundays are usually spent at their house, eating lunch, playing with there amazingly cute son Sam, napping..... you get the point. This Sunday was a bit different.

Alex has been working with a new band named Atlantic. The band is comprised of 4 guys; Josh, Nathan, Alex (not the aforementioned Alex) and Jeremy. This band is phenomenal!!!!! One would think that the perk to being Alex and Jacquie's friends is that you get to rub shoulders with up and coming artists (as if their incredible friendship weren't enough), and it is. Hanging out at the Walkers so frequently inevitably means hanging out with Atlantic, as well other musicians. Today, however, hanging out and rubbing shoulders took a crazy turn.

After eating at Chipotle (a mexican restaurant) Alex mentioned that he was going to the Wire (a small art/music/recording venue) to "lay down" some guitar tracks for an hour or so. Knowing that Jacquie (who is nine months pregnant) would be napping, not to mention being very intrigued by the whole track laying down, I asked if I could accompany him. He agreed explaining this wasn't a very "studio experience" it was just a few guitar parts (seriously, it's all the same to me).

We arrived and I played "coffee girl" and made a Starbucks run. When I had gotten back, Josh, Nathan and Alex were just about done setting up with the engineer Dave. I took a spot out of the way on the floor by an amp and silently (well kinda.... these boys are all really really funny, so there was a lot of goofing off that happened. But lets just say I tried to stay out of the way though it didn't always work out so well:-). On the "to do" list was a chorus for Nathan, and verse and chorus for Josh and a whisper track. Nathan began and worked his part out for about 20minutes. Next was the whisper track.

A whisper track is just what it sounds like. It's whispering that will go in and around certain parts of a song. There were two that need to be recorded. One was whispering a line in the chorus to insert between the chorus and the verse, the other was random whispering for the end of the song. It works best when there is a small group of people standing around the mic whispering. This is where I became immortal in the music world. By luck (and a friendship with perks) I was in the studio and happen to have amazing (yet rarely used) whispering skills. So for several takes we all (5 of us) stood around the mic laying down a whisper track. When we finished Josh laid down his part and we heard the rough cut of it all together. It sounded so freaking cool!!!!

Now, I am fully aware that a whisper track does not make me a super star, but hanging out in the studio for the afternoon was a look into a world that I know nothing about and it was awesome! Truthfully, it made wish that I were the slightest bit musically inclined. And when Atlantic makes it big (and trust me they will, look for their CD sometime in the near future... I think, they sent the rough mix to be mastered. I don't know what all that entails let alone how long it takes) I will be able to say I was there at The Wire when they recorded parts of their first album and it's my voice you hear in the whisper on "What do you want from me."

These are some of the pictures I took with my phone so they're a little dark

Summer, Summer Summer....Camp

This past week was summer camp. Camp is one of the most amazing places to me. I swear the trees drip grace. It's where I was saved, where I spent every summer from 9th grade until I was a sophomore in college.

This summer camp was bittersweet to me. It isn't what I remember it to be (But is anything every really what we remember once time has stripped away the bitter parts and left us only with the sweet? ). Even though it didn't compare to past experience it was still a great week- here are a few highlights.

NOT SO....

Lame.

I can't take too much credit- but there is a new picture and a new template- lap top intact. Thanks J!

The new title? "The view from the passengers seat" referred to my travels to and fro, east to west and back again.... Since that is no longer the case I decided to change it. Why Lost+Found?? Those who know me know that I often find myself lost (driving, walking, in life, love and the pursuit of happiness... sometimes I even get lost on my way to the bathroom first thing in the morning...), but thankfully, I am unfailingly found.

Until next time (which will undoubtedly be after I get back from the greatest place on earth [tied only with the beach].......SUMMER CAMP), I leave you with some (of a multitude of) pictures taken by the "photobooth" on my lap-top- something that was only recently discovered (thank you Jamie for the second time this entry). It has brought a ridiculous amount of fun and monkeying around by all those that live in my house and/or visit often.

LAME!

So I'm not soooo lame (or, shall I say, technologically challenged) that I can't add a link to a site that may or may not have a more complete picture gallery from Jamie and Jason's trip with captions. If I did I think that link may look something like this- Jamie's blog but maybe not. I don't know, I'm just sayin is all.

I am, however, lame enough to not be able to change my blog template to a template from blogskins and even more embarrassingly, unable to upload a new picture of myself for my profile- even with instructions. Yeah I know... lame!!!! So, I'm currently taking applications for a site administrator. This of course is an unpaid position that requires the applicants to not only be able to do trivial computer tasks but more importantly be able to keep me from backing over my lap-top repeatedly. Please apply in the comment section of this post.

In the meantime, I'm heading to the beach with a book, journal and bible for the evening to get a little "alone time." I sincerely believe the beach is good for my soul. Funny story: I was making that very exclamation one evening to a friend when another friend who happened to be near by piped in and said "it's true, she's actually nice when she comes back." True story on many accounts!