I am awful at this blogging stuff...

But I feel like I need to make a point to keep it going, especially being so far removed from my ex-home...and theres a lot going on in my life that I would love to share and ask for prayers for. So let me sum this up best I can...

My attitude has improved drastically over the past couple months (a little help from my friends prozac and xanax, but improvement nonetheless..). I am finally at a place where I am content...content being removed from the norm, content with my surroundings, and content with the idea of starting a new life. It has been a scary and uncertain rollercoaster the past few months, not gunna lie. In addition to MOVING across the COUNTRY, finding out who my true friends are, and realizing God is God and I am most definitely NOT, there has been some devestation that has caused me to really take a step back and say "woah"...
My Grammy was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple months ago. Luckily, they caught it early on and they were able to just do a lumpectomy and radiation for 6+ weeks and now she is looking and feeling good, and on her way to moving out here! Praise the Lord! Scary/stressful couple months for her and our family, but just another learning and growing experience.
On April 5th at about 2 am I got a frantic phone call from a friend, telling me to read an article he had sent me. It was then that I was informed that my good friend Jon(often referred to as my lil bro), had alledgedly murdered his girlfriend Kate and is in jail with bail set at 1 million dollars. After doing some research on the timeline of events, I realized we had spoken after Kate's death occured. Jon is the LAST person I wouldve expected this from, and I really struggled to grasp the situation. I was interrogated by a detective, asked to send all my computer conversations to the police...it really threw me for a loop. Jons arraignment was today...still waiting to hear what his plea was. My prayer is that he does the right thing. I truly do not believe he is a bad person. That may be so wrong of me to think that way, and I am grieving the loss of Kate, but no one is ever on this side of things...friends with the murderer. Surreal and sickening are the only words I have for that.
It was as if all the emotion I had been feeling welled up inside came to a head a week ago last thursday...my mom had just gotten out of bed about tens mins earlier, we were all standing in the kitchen talking (rare for the whole fam to be in the same room at the same time..)
And lightening hit my favorite tree in our backyard.
The noise, the emotion, the reaction of my family members...panic attack! The tree literally EXPLODED pelting the side of our house with small to feet long daggars of wood...shattering the window right above my moms side of the bed...embedding glass in her sheets where she had been just minutes before...blowing out our TV, directv, electricity hitting many appliances, ruined our fence, tore our screened porch...craaazyyy. Brought our family and neighborhood together in a weird inexplainable way though. The timing of it worked out in so many weird ways...God really is the Protector. There have been so many things that I don't think I, WE, shouldve made it through as well as we have. And yet, here we are. If nothing else, this move has knit us so tightly as a family, I truly believe we can handle anything together a million times better now than 9 months ago.
The job market has been at a standstill with the economy and all, for both me and my father (prayers that he can get a great job asap!)...for me, this was a total blessing in disguise, as I am going to EUROPE the entire month of september! Starbucks really is the only job I could have that would let me get away with taking off a month at a time. So, to Europe I go! Most people go to Vegas and get trashed for their 21st bday...instead, I will be with my best friend on a two week cruise to 9 countries, then wine tasting in Italy, enjoying the real Oktoberfest in Munich, taking a sound of music bus tour through Salzburg and Vienna...CANNOT WAIT! I dont know how it all worked out so perfectly but we got some AMAZING deals on some fabulous places..I think we will see a total of 11 or 12 countries over a span of 4 weeks. TRAVEL NOW PEOPLE! Its so do able!
Prayers that it goes smoothly would be soo appreciated...
Also, my friend Mike Cicerone is in the Marines and getting shipped out anytime between now and early May to Afghanistan. Please keep him in your prayers...I hear this is a pretty bad time to be over there...
So that pretty much the summary of the low lows and high highs...I have so much to look forward to, and have NO clue of where I will be at beyond my trip in Sept. Could be here for another year, could move back to CA...really, no idea. I figure this is the time to make memories and take risks, I couldnt ask for a better support group to have behind me through this all. Looks like I am the next in line in my family to get married...gotta get out and see the world before I am ready to do that so now is the time!
I really enjoy reading my family and friends blogs and seeing whats up with you all and how I can pray for you...I will try to be more regular with keeping this up..try being the key word :)

Love and Miss you all!!