vantage point church - 1 year

Tonight I was invited to a church celebration...
their 1 year anniversary!
My lifelong friend Shelly invited me to go with her to her church tonight. They were having a big celebration (with free Vince's spaghetti). They handed out glow-in-the-dark necklaces, had a great time of worship and encouraged everyone to let loose and jump and dance and do whatever you wanted to praise God. It was cool when they turned the lights out and you could just see the glowing necklaces bouncing around. There was so much happiness and praise going on. The young Pastor spoke for awhile (he was long winded) but his entrance was great...he jumped out of a birthday cake! hahaha :) I guess he has a lot of interesting entrances.

So this church, within one year, grew from a group of 30 people meeting in the Pastor's house, to over...
400 members!!!
How awesome is that!

Anyway, it was a fun night celebrating with all these believers and visiting with friends. Thanks Shelly for inviting me!

Shelly's daddy Dennis...
we had a nice time catching up over spaghetti me and Shelly with our cool glow-in-the-dark necklaces Happy 1 YEAR Anniversary
Vantage Point Church!!

poor lil guy...

Check out what I found today as I was taking out the trash...
I think my cat had a little too much fun!
Poor lil baby!!! :(

girl's fun night

Ladie's night out was fun tonight. The four of us got together and had a very nice dinner at a Thai restaurant in the Claremont Village. Surprisingly, I really liked my food! Sweet Kristy bought my dinner for me...thank you girly! We enjoyed great food and great conversation.

Me & Carissa
Holly & Kristy
After dinner, we went back to Holly's house and played some crazy TABBOO! Fun times for sure! Its pretty crazy how stressed you get playing a game...its hard coming up with other words to describe the one your partner needs to guess, without saying those listed on the card. Once you see the words, its like you can't think of anything else! Anyway, it was lots of fun! We stayed up past midnight having some good old fashion fun!

Thanks for a fun night chicas!
It was very nice having a night away from all the stress in my life!
You girls rock!
LOVE YOU!!

unemployment drama

Well, there has been a lot of drama going on trying to get my unemployment claim figured out. Finally, after over a month of working on it, I finally got through to an actual live voice! I can't believe how difficult they make it to get ahold of them. Anyway, the man I was able to talk to was really nice and he had me fax a few pieces of information to him...and then this morning a woman from the EDD called and verified a few more pieces of information. Sounds like I should be receiving a check soon...thank God!!! :) Hopefully soon I can catch up on my rent payments! Anyway, just thought I'd give ya a little update on that. I think its FINALLY cleared up! :)

carissa turns 31

Today was Carissa's 31st Birthday! I love this girl so much...we have been friends for about 15 years! Since we were both recently laid off, we spent the day together out-and-about, hitting up Starbucks, a few thrift stores, yummy Vince's spaghetti, and we saw a movie "Bride Wars" (good movie!). We had a fun day together!
I love you Carissa!
Happy 31st Birthday Chica!!!!

Bowling Night...

Its always nice to have a night out with friends...
I was having a pretty rough day emotionally and my dear friend (& ex-coworker) Olya and her man Nathan met up with me late in the evening for some good old fashioned fun of BOWLING! We had a great time laughing at all our gutter balls, slips, and ball drops :) It was a great way to finish off the day! Oh and it was especially great for me, cuz I won all the games! Yea for me! :)

in His hands

"...the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.
Blessed be the name of the Lord."
Job 1:21

I feel so selfish sometimes. Especially this last week. Yes breakups are hard and they hurt so bad, losing a job and having financial hardship feels unbearable sometimes, feeling like you've hit bottom because everything is falling apart in front of you...but I tend to forget how blessed I really am. I got mad at God this week, because I don't understand why all this hurt is happening. And yet, I have so much to be thankful for, God has blessed me so much...and what do I do? - I blame Him when things aren't perfect. Why do we do that? I know that I am in the Lord's hands, He has a great plan for all of us! I have hope in His grace and mercy, His love and forgiveness, and I encourage all of you who are down on your luck to continue to seek God and be thankful for what He's blessed you with.

"Consider it all joy my brethren,
when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance."
James 1:2
(if you have time, read the whole chapter, James 1)

catching up...

Sorry for those of you who have enjoyed reading my blog and have been left with no stories for the past month...life has been a rollercoaster lately (I don't like rollercoasters very much). Anyway, I thought that I would update you on the holidays and catch you up a bit on my "life".

'Life'...
Well as I blogged about a month ago, I got laid off from my job. The following day, I applied for unemployment benefits and ever since have had the toughest time getting things squared away. Not only have I not received a check yet, but they had sent all my paperwork to my house addressed to someone else. Yep, that's right, all of my information (social security, address, employment history) with another woman's name...I'm assuming its an 'illegal'. Its so frustrating because you can't get ahold of anyone on the phone and they don't respond to email either. I've been trying all month to get this fixed, and have had no luck. PLUS, all the paperwork came in Spanish and of course I don't understand it. So, that's a huge frustration these days. I'm just hoping that this person hasn't been receiving my benefits at all. And I checked with social security and they told me that they don't see that my identity has been stolen with them. So that's good. But still, what a hassle this is!

Then my computer crashed. I got the blue screen of death saying that my memory was being deleted. Good thing I had everything backed up on my external hard drive though! So being computerless isn't so good when you're trying to find a job! But, my super fabulous cousin Cathy has lent me her old laptop to use for awhile...what a lifesaver! So now I can start blogging again too! :) I know you're all so excited! hahaha :)

The Holidays...
This was my first year celebrating Christmas without my immediate family. What a strange thing that was! But my mom and Ray-Ray bought all us kids webcams so that we could still all be together on Christmas...how rad is that! But alas, my computer was dead, so it didn't work for me. But at least now I can start using it since I'm borrowing a computer. I just need to get it set up. Anyway, I spent Christmas here in California with my kiddos...(poor Annie...I made her do a photoshoot, heehee)
A few days later I got to go visit my mom up in Washington. Unfortunately for me I got sick a couple days before I flew out with a sore throat that turned into a nasty cold. I was sick for the whole first week of my trip! Sad for Jody! But we had fun anyways. Even though it was freezing there, it was fun to be in the snow, or be in the house all bundled up watching the snow through the window! :)

View from the airplane on the way to Washington...Mom and Ray-Ray's new houseIts Snowing!!! Me and Mom...My Snow AngelBy the Gorge taking photos... New Years was lots of fun. My step brother Troy and his wife Emily came over and we watched some movies, played games, and made our crafty little New Years Eve hats...aren't we so talented? heehee :)At midnight we toasted the New Year with our yummy sparkling cider and then we participated in the Audet family tradition of running through the snow barefoot! Yep, barefoot! Not the smartest thing in the world, but it was an experience! I thought I had frost bite after that! Geez, it was cold!Later that night we celebrated "Christmas Eve" together, because we were going to celebrate Christmas day together on New Years Day...I got some real cute/fun stuff! (sorry, I look terrible!)The whole trip was fun. Mom took me around town and we went to all the fun thrift stores...its so cute that everywhere she took me they knew her by name. Small towns are nice like that! Being able to spend lots of time with mom and Ray-Ray was great and I already miss them!
We got to eat good food @ the Taco Truckyummy shakes with mom at EZ'sPizza at the movie theater in our cool booth while watching "Marley and Me" (a total tear jerker by the way!)I got to sweep some snow...And the last night we also got to celebrate my step-sister's and Ray-Ray's birthdays...

Check out

Jody Vasquez Photography

for some of my scenic photos of beautiful Washington!

Back to 'Life'...
Recently I had started dating someone pretty seriously. He was so sweet...he used to leave me notes all over like this one:Every day there was a new note somewhere when he'd leave. They were really special, and the highlight of my day. Well LONG story short, turned out that while I was gone for two weeks visiting mom, a lot happened with him and things ended. I can't get into the details. Anyway, I'm so very sad! Geez, I just feel like I can't get a break these days! I'm pretty depressed about losing him, but do wish him the best! Oh, I almost forgot to share with you what he made me for Christmas...he made me a super cool fireplace/mantle that I will be painting soon and putting candles in...here's the pre-paint product...So I realize that some of my blog is negative frustrations that I'm having (besides my trip to WA). I've been pretty depressed the last few days since the breakup, lots of crying. They always say "what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger"...well, I'm not feeling stronger yet. I'm ready for some good things to come my way...where are they? Anyway, I really am trying to be optimistic, even through the sadness, and I'm seeking God through the hard times. I know He has a plan greater than I, so I'm trying to be patient. Please pray for me if you will.
(I haven't been able to eat or sleep much either)

I am looking forward to 2009...it will be interesting to see where God leads and how he heals and uses me in the coming year. I know there are good things ahead, and I am eager to get back to a happy place.

I hope everyone had safe and happy holidays and that this New Year is treating you kindly so far! :)

i should just go to bed...

So I just realized that its been forever since I last blogged.
So here's a funny one...I hope I made you smile!

"Hi, my name is Chubby!" (heehee)

Sorry, its late and I'm delirious!