In the South...

I have been here a week and two days and I’m already tired. Naps have yet again become my best friend. Do I like it here? Yes, from what I have seen so far. But I should probably start with the end of our road trip.

Wednesday (8/20)

I knew that Wednesday was going to be an interesting day when, while I was finishing breakfast, I met Lisa Marie. She came to my table, asked me if I was cold and said that she was but it’s probably because she’s really skinny. Lisa Marie then proceeded to tell me her life story: how she grew up on the East coast, how her mother worshiped Satan, she moved out West to Colorado, her pastor was involved in “that huge scandal”, how her daughter went as a Bible Worker to Turkey where she met and Indian guy, and oh! How Lisa began to pray for her because they were beginning to date. Her son has joined the air force and she now lives in New Mexico. Twenty minutes later, we parted and Lisa Marie said that she would be sure to look us up when she makes it out to California. Yea, I’m going to wait on that one…

A Holiday Inn a few miles out of Little Rock, AK, was our home for Wednesday night. While looking for the quote of the day, there were several things that caught my eye.

Quote of the Day

While we were driving through Texas, looking for a place to eat,

we were particularly interested in stopping at:

“The Original Fried Pie Place” or the “Japanese Steak House”

Thursday(8/21)

Short! Only 9 hours! No Problem!

Quote of the Day

“Toad Suck Park”

Destination Reached!

Sabbath afternoon (8/23), Karalee’s cousin took a group of us up to the water tower. Believe me, I stayed on the ground…

Mike, Hollie, Karalee, Michael

They all found out that I don't do heights...

Here is the university. The building with the pillars (right) is the main building.

The white looking roof on the massive building in front of that is the girls dorm.

I'm one of the ones on the ground.

Christine is to thank for these pictures!

Friday (8/29) was Karalee’s 19^th birthday! Phil came up and took a group of us girls out to eat at the Macoroni Grill.

Layla, Anne, Christine, Karalee, Hollie

While we were enjoying real food, we all had a chance to express our feelings about the various orientation meetings that we had attended. We all agreed that they had done a very good job at scaring all the freshman by constantly reminding them that they are no longer in high school. Anne, who has never been in an Adventist school before, expressed her impression of the school so far: “It’s like they say, ‘Welcome to Southern. You can’t do this; you can’t do this; you can’t do this; Praise the Lord! You can’t do this, you can’t do this; you can’t do this….’” She also made the observation that she has never seen so many scrawny boys in her life! Welcome to Adventist schooling Anne!

Last night was the SA Welcome Back Party. The theme was… drum roll… The 90s! Umm…? Yea, that was my first reaction too. However, I was pleasantly surprised. We had a great time dressing up, listening to hits of the 90s, playing jump rope, Mario Cart, Four-Square and stuffing ourselves with Cheese-Its, Fruit-By-The-Foot, and Gushers (all the food I wasn’t allowed to eat when it really was the 90s).

Christine, Karalee, Rachel, Cassie, Hollie

Some guys started break dancing...

And everyone was told to go do something else.

Chris Beddoe and Hollie

The obvious highlight of the entire night came from, surprise surprise, Ryan Moore. Dare I say that I’ve known him for a while? Well, they had karaoke set up and Ryan made everyone get to his feet with his version of “Vanilla Ice, Ice Baby”:

That is the conclusion of my thoughts for today. I must now turn my brain to History, Earth Science and Music in the US.

If anyone would like to send me anything via US Mail:

My Name

PO Box 529, Room 1522

Collegedale, TN 37315-0529

Or if you send via UPS/FedEx, DHL, etc:

My Name

4871 Taylor Circle, Room 1522

Collegedale, TN 37315

Greetings from New Mexico

Ah! Albuquerque. How is it? Well, the Hampton Inn is nice. Actually, I'm impressed. All they had left was smoking rooms so we got a nice discount because we were willing to compromise (at least that's what the guy at the front desk said.)

After sitting for about 12 hours, I am very thankful to be out of the car and watching the Olympics.

I must say that all day today I felt guilty for traveling the Interstate and bypassing Radiator Springs on Route 66.

Somewhere in the middle of Arizona

During this trip, we are keeping track of all the different license plates that we've seen. I left the list in the car but I think we're up to 36 different states now.

I'm also keeping track of the "quote of the day". These are something that I've seen or heard on the road.

Today
we passed over:

The Holy Moses Wash

Yesterday
we passed a semi:

"Where in the Hell is Easy Street?"


I just know that knew it was going to be an interesting trip...

The Power of a Song and the Work of an Artist

Ah! This week have flown by!

Now, I must share with you about the power of a song. Last Sabbath we had a guest pastor from San Francisco who talked about the power that a song has. He said that if you have a song in your heart, by all means sing it! It was placed there by God!

In the conclusion of his sermon, the pastor showed this clip of the history of the song "Amazing Grace" by Wintley Phipps. Phipps shares a little about the history of the song. This is truly amazing and powerful:

God is good!

Alright. Now. On Monday night, I had the opportunity to attend the 75th anniversary of the Festival of the Arts in Laguna Beach. It was amazing! There is a huge art show before the Pageant of the Masters. During this show, I discovered several other amazing photographers. My favorite photographer now is Margo Moritz. You'll find a link to her website under my "Favorite Photographers" section.

Festival of the Arts entrance

Waiting...

All the World's a Stage

Before we realized that cameras were not allowed in at the pageant...

Goodbyes and Farewells

Today there were several goodbyes in my life. Kate left for Florida, Carrie left for Majuro and the McMurry family moved to Boring, OR. Jim and Betty have been here for over 20 years. They've been here the entire time that my family has. Our whole church partied hard (Adventist Style) last night. This morning, a few of us got up and at 7:30 am took the McMurrys breakfast.

Waiting for Jim... And blocking the street in the process.

Finally walking in. About 7:45 am.

"What are you doing here???"

We woke up Elissa and her friends.

Breakfast!

I know that Pastor Jim, Betty, Elissa and Mitch will all be missed from our church family!