Mical left this morning. We had SO much fun the last 6 days. We got to eat a LOT of food (my favorite) and spent some good time in the city as well as just relaxing and hanging out around my house. It's so fun to be able to show somebody around my hometown and introduce them to the places and things that make home HOME to me. I already cannot wait until she gets to visit again and hope she had as much of a blast as I did!

Things we did:
Eat
Billy Graham Museum
Shedd Aquarium
Eat
Blue Man Group
Millenium Park
Magnificent Mile
Eat
Relax
Eat

Here are a few photos from our time here

It snowed last night. We had a blast building snowmen and making snow angels.

4 Days. Wednesday afternoon Mical and I will be heading to Chicago. I'm SUPER excited

Two weeks from today I get to take Mical to my kinda town, Chicago. I cannot wait for the opportunity to show her my house and where I grew up. It's so exciting after getting shown around and hosted over and over and over out here at school, to be able to be on the hosting end of someone, especially someone I care so much about. I'm looking forward to showing her where I went to high school, my house, my car, meet some of my friends, take her to my church, and most importantly eat at my favorite restaurants :). This is the second time I've had this opportunity and if you want to see how excited I was to take my roommates home, you can look here or even here. I'll keep you posted!!!

Happy Holidays! This is an old picture I took when I was visiting home last year.

This boy's name is Dim, he lives in an orphanage in Thailand where the Gospel is shared and showed to him on a daily basis by two amazing women. He and I knew no words in each others language but had a lot of fun together regardless. I do miss him.




If you're reading this please pray that God would continue to place in him a thirst for the Word and Godly men in his life to replace his missing father. Pray that these men will show him the way to become a Godly man himself and do great things for the Kingdom.

Mical and I spent the afternoon in Oak Glen this Sunday. The weather could not have been better and we enjoyed some fresh apple pie and cider. It definitely was a great afternoon enjoying the harvest and Mical even let me take some photos of her. I'm a lucky guy to be able to spend the day with such a beautiful woman!

Tomorrow is the day I fall from a plane. That's in flight. Keep an eye out for the results.

Tonight Mical and I went over to Starbucks to get off campus while we did homework. It turned out to be a great decision because the guy behind the counter gave us our drinks for free!

Two of my favorite study buddies. Mical and a free cup of joe.

...and I miss Thailand too. I think I was bitten by the travel bug. Hard.

I miss Germany

Mical

A few weeks ago Mical and I got to go up to our friends house in the mountains for bbq. The house looked like something from a magazine! It was gorgeous and of course we had delicious food. It was a great way to spend Sunday afternoon and on the way home I convinced her to let me pull over to snap a picture.

She makes me laugh, puts me in my place occasionally :), and constantly challenges me by her example of faith, love of the word, and her heart for the world.

Welp,

The first full week of school is officially over. It went well. I'm definitely looking forward to this semester.

As promised here are a few sunsets

School

Sorry I have not posted in a while but we just finished a crazy orientation week and had our first day of classes today. I'm OFFICIALLY a senior in college, graduating in a little over 7 months. Yikes. Anyway I have a few photos of some last sunsets from Temecula and a few that I snagged here in Riverside so keep checking for those hopefully soon. In the meantime I leave you with these:

Introducing.... Tilly

Short for Atilla the Humm. She is a 2004 Chevy Malibu with less than 35,000 miles on her (pre drive across good ol' U.S. of A.). As promised here she is.

San Diego

As the summer winds down not unlike most people, Mical and I have found ourselves scrambling when we're not working or on family vacations to do all the things we said we would do. Last night we both had no plans and decided to go down to San Diego, since it's a lot easier to make the trip from Temecula than Riverside, and let me tell you it turned out to be a GREAT day. We went to Body Worlds in the afternoon, then walked around Hillcrest for a little bit until one of my favorite restaurants Hash House a go-go or, Hungry Hashies as my brother and I like to call it, opened up for dinner and then finished off the day by strolling around Coronado. San Diego is one of my all-time favorite cities and it was a lot of fun being able to spend time in so many different areas in one day. Here are two pictures from last night of Hotel Del.

We Arrived

Well, my Dad and I arrived back in Temecula after 30.5 hours of driving from Chicago on Friday evening. The trip could not have gone smoother and I was really grateful for the large chunk of time I was able to spend with my awesome Dad. We made the trip in two days with a night in Denver to catch some z's. I don't have a picture of my car yet but hopefully I will soon. In the meantime here are a few from the drive.



yes, there she is at the pump

New School and a Trip Home

Tomorrow I am flying to Michigan. My grandpa is letting me borrow his car until I graduate and I could not be more happy or thankful! It has been a real struggle the past three years but especially this summer living without wheels, but no more! I fly to Michigan tomorrow, drive from Detroit to Chicago on Wednesday, then Thursday morning my Dad and I are leaving from Chicago to head back out here to Temecula. I'm very excited for the road trip and will let you know how it turns out. In the meantime here is a skyline photo from my recent trip to Düsseldorf.

Old School

Old Picture from Thailand. Probably one of my favorites from the whole trip

Long Time

I know I said that I would be doing my best to be posting while I was gone and I have. However, this is the first opportunity I have had. When I first committed to leading this trip I knew that it would be more of a learning experience for me than a leading experience and it has been just that. Being responsible for a group of High Schoolers for 3 weeks takes more spiritual consistency, energy, and steady emotions than I could have imagined. God is good however and please continue to pray that we will be effective in our last few days here. We leave on Saturday morning!

Here are a few pictures from the past couple of weeks






and finally... where I'm writing this post from :)

And They're Off

It's finally here. I'm leaving for Germany tomorrow. 6 others plus myself will be leading a group of High Schoolers to Germany and The Netherlands. I'm super excited its finally here and can't wait to arrive! Hopefully I'll have sufficient internet access to keep you abreast of our trip and the latest happenings.

So without further ado.... THE TEAM

Good TImes

I was looking through some old pictures today and I found some from a trip I took with my parents to Venice Beach last summer. They came out to visit and be with me while I was having knee surgery and boy was I thankful. Anyway here's to the Old School

What's in a name?

So it's true. All the years of jokes and clever quips from my name are no longer quips or even clever. I'm officially a cook. Not just a Cook but a cook. A Banquet Chef to be precise. So to anyone who has ever asked, "Hey are you an ACTUAL cook or are you just posing with your name?" Or, "Hey are you going into the food industry? You could be Cook Cook," and, "So do you know really know how to cook?" The answer is yes. To all. Yes. I'm a rookie though so don't get too excited :)

Temecula

I'm living in Temecula this summer with my brother Drew, his wife Holly, and her Parents Rick and Brenda. I'm super excited to be able to spend the summer with them AND stay out in California. It's definitely different though, as I write a horse is whinnying. They live out in the hills of Wine country which is a far cry from Riverslime. I can look out the back door and see over the whole town of Temecula and the rest of the valley which is quite a treat. Also, they have two dogs and two cats who just had 5 kittens which brings the total to 9 animals which are all outdoor animals. Since everyone has left for Arizona for the weekend I got to take care of them and let me tell you, I have never met any brood of animals with more personality than these. But I'll let you see that for yourself...

some of the kittens and Bailey their Mom


Molly and Daisy


More Molly and Diasy


A Curious Kitten


All the Kitties


This picture describes Molly better than I ever could.