Summer Summary

Lately I've been wondering, "Where has this summer gone?? In just three weeks college will start back up again! No way!" Then I remind myself, "Oh, yeah. It's gone all around the world via car, plane, ship, and night ferry." Needless to say - I've been here, there, and...well...everwhere. Or so it seems.

Last I wrote I was in Nashville visiting friends as I awaited the drive across country. Once I drove across the country to move my sister and brother-in-law back to California, I was home 28 hours. - A mere 28 hours to rest, unpack, repack, and leave for my mission trip to Mexico. After I spent a week in Mexico I was home for two weeks before leaving once more on a jet plane to Japan to help with disaster relief work.

My trip to Japan had a sudden ending to it, sooner then expected. However, there will be time for that story in another blog entry. While this is just a summary of the summer, I will post more detailed and precious memories and stories from all my trips. Some of the stories will be my own. Some will be from Japanese tsunami survivors. Looks like I have blogging material to last me a few months.

Looks like my blogging name is holding up to it's expectations thus this far.

The Travelin' Chick,

Crystal

Wait...What city is this?

I've gotten to the point (already!) of asking myself, "Wait...What city am I in??" Usually this happens if I'm sitting somewhere alone, such as an airport. Within the last two weeks I've slept on 4 different beds, been to 8 different cities (not counting different towns/cities I've been driving in while in TN), 4 states, and 2 countries. By the time summer is over I probably will hit sleeping on 20 different beds, 4 countries, 8 or so states, and countless cities. It'll be a fun thing to count up sometime in September.

Since my last post a LOT has happened. Let me start from Friday, the 20th of May.

Friday came along and I had last minute packing to do for my trips. It would be my last day home for about a month. Mom, dad, and I were leaving on a jet plane for Seattle at 7 p.m. with some of our family. The next day our cruise ship would leave the port and set sail in the world's beautiful Alaskan waters!

...Or so we thought.

Before we knew it, dad was being hospitalized AGAIN for the second time within just a few short months. We had no idea on what was going on or what exactly was wrong. We just knew something was up with his blood tests that caused his admittance into the hospital. From that moment life got even more stressful then the usual travel stress. Mom was canceling her and dad's plane tickets and cruise passes. We were trying to decide if I should go, or if I should stay. The doctor's said it should be okay should I go on this cruise, mom insisted I should go, and my aunt Felicia was telling me I really needed a vacation.

Inside I was torn. Sitting on a hospital bench just outside the doors I found myself breaking down unable to control the tears. Stress from the week was finally catching up to me (I had finals, projects, lost a dog, was trying to pack...you get the idea). I desperately wanted to go, but at the same time, "what if" something did happen? Who would help mom with things around the house that week? I also didn't think it was fair for me to go while my parents stayed behind in "Sunny California". However, we also realized that my plane ticket left from Seattle right after the end of the cruise to go onto Nashville. Not only would we need to cancel a plane ticket and cruise for me, but we'd have to figure out a new route for me to arrive in music city.

After talking it over with mom for about an hour, I came to a couple of conclusions:

#1. Figuring out all my travel plans by canceling and rerouting would add to our stress.

#2. I can't live in the "what if" state of mind.

#3. If something did happen, I could catch a plane from Alaska to head home as soon as possible.

#4. There really wasn't much I could do by being home except sit there and wait.

#5. We'll just do an Alaska Cruise: Take Two! next year, which is already in the making.

From those realizations, thoughts and with the encouragement to go, I decided that I would still hop on the 7 p.m. flight out of my hometown to rainy Seattle.

The cruise was amazing. The views were spectacular. I've never seen anything quite like Alaska. We saw whales, glaciers, icebergs, eagles...The list goes on and on! I made some new friends from many different locations around the world. My new friends were from Australia, New York, North Carolina, Memphis, Brazil, and Arizona. There were also over 1,000 cruisers from Asia. They would ask my aunt if they could take a picture of her and my baby cousin in group shots. They love American babies!

In Juneau I was able to participate in a land and sea photo safari. Four whales showed up around our little boat as I snapped away with my camera. We saw seals, sea lions, fish, and birds. While we saw no bears, we did see a bear cave and bear poop...Both of which I took pictures of, since I didn't get to see the actual animal. At the end of the excursion our tour guide (ironically named Cam...Get it?? It was a photography land and sea safari excursion led by a guy with the name of Cam...) took us to a glacier. If you've ever seen the Grand Canyon, you know the feeling of awe that it gives and the moment when it takes your breath away. At the glacier I had the same feeling, but even stronger! It was beautiful.

Of course, at the glacier I saw a really cool picture idea. If you know me you know I sometimes put myself in interesting situations, giving myself interesting stories to tell...Walking to the spot I needed to go, I stepped in some previously walked across mud not thinking anything of it. Switching camera lenses, I took one step on the mud and...WHAM! Next thing I knew, I was not only stepping in it, but being covered in it as well!

No worries...My camera and both lenses were okay! Oh, and I was too. Needless to say...I did not get the picture I was aiming to get during my meeting with the mud. (The whole area was mud, and I just decided it was wiser not to continue on...This time!) However, I still got some neat shots.

I'm glad that I chose to go on the cruise. I do believe I made the right choice. I was able to get some relaxation I needed, a short change of scenery, new friends, and lots of laughter. Not to mention really good food (by the end, I needed a vacation from food!), lots of pictures, learned some new things about photography and Alaska, created memories, and ended up with stories to tell.

Throughout the cruise mom updated me on dad's condition. A lot of the blood tests turned out to be false positives. We did learn something new about a previous condition he has had for a while that has changed a bit and that we needed to know about. He was in the hospital for almost the full week and some family friends of ours helped my mom out during this time.

For the last week I have now been in Nashville. I've been visiting with friends, house hoping, injured myself with a tape measurer (how in the world does a person do that??), been attacked by the nasty cicadas, driving around town with my country music flowing through the car's speakers. I've been having a good time. Today I'll even get to ride a jet ski and drive one as well, which is something that I will be able to officially be able to kick off my bucket list!

Tuesday morning my sister, brother-in-law, and grandpa and I will journey on to our next adventure: Driving across the USA.

The Travelin' Chick,

Crystal

PS: I also did have my picture taken for my OM prayer card! Yeah!!

Second Year of College? Done.

My second year of college is officially over. In my mind it is currently a huge relief that I made it out alive from this last semester. In my mind I am also amazed at how time seemed to fly by, as this makes it one whole year since I left Nashville. (Well, FWBBC anyway...I didn't leave Nashville until June.)

When seasons end I enjoy looking back at memories that were made and the cool things that happened or that I got to participate in. Usually I do this with school years and summer vacations. (You know you're a college student when...Life is organized around two seasons. School - and Summer.)

This list won't be crazy long as usually the long one is at the end of the summer time, but here is some of the main things that happened or that I tried...Oh - and this may be out of order.

1. I transfered to Fresno City College from FWBBC. Not an easy thing to do. To be honest, it was rough, especially in the beginning. After a year has gone by I do see what God was trying to do in my life this year. Maybe I don't see all that God has done yet or the full purpose of bringing me back. I do, however, see some of the beauty in the complex puzzle of life.
2. My baby cousin was born. Until this sweet little kid came along, I was the baby in the family.
3. Until Spring break I had never changed a diaper before in my life. (Look at #2)
4. I had a job in a photography studio.
5. I found out I'm going to be an AUNT! Yeaaa!
6. My dad got super sick and almost died as he spent about 2 weeks in the hospital...(Seriously. He basically had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel.) I'm so blessed to still have my dad with me today.
7. I took photography classes as well as a class for photoshop.
8. The College and Career class started working with our high schoolers/junior highers at church.
9. Through this semester I've learned how much I LOVE working with the teens. (check out previous number) Before this year, I had no idea. I'm praying that God will guide me in my future to work with the youth, whether I become a Youth Pastor's wife, work at a camp, children's home, work with Truth and Peace or E-TEAM, etc. The possibilities are endless. Regardless of wherever I end up in my life, I know I want to be involved in someway with the youth!
10. After being away for a year and then returning I realized how beautiful California truly is.
11. With the college and career class at church we helped plan a mission trip to Mexico for this upcoming June. We're all super pumped for this trip!!
12. I did NOT injure myself ONCE! YEAHHH! Talk about a record and something to be proud of! ;-)
13. During the semester I found out about Operation Mobilization. I dug for more information and learned a lot about the organization. Now I have been accepted to go with them in January of 2012 to go for about 4 months to London and 10 days in Germany.
14. In January I went to Nashville!
15. We lost our little dog Harley. This was within the last couple of days. I have hope and faith that he'll come home and that we'll find him!
16. With the amazing women in my family we all went and saw Wicked together. We took a limo and ate at the Tokyo Steakhouse in Clovis. What a night!!

That's about it...I think...Those are the big moments I can remember off the top of my head anway..."What now?" you ask? Here is a brief look at my upcoming summer plans:

May 20 (AKA: Tomorrow): Leave for Seattle

May 21-28: Alaskan Cruise!

May 28: Leave for Nashville straight from Seattle!

June 7 (I think): Start Road Trip from Nashville, TN, to Fresno, CA.

June 11 (Or EARLY June 12! Who knows how this will go...): Get home

June 12 (yes, the 12th!): Leave for Mexico!! (We're building a house, doing women and children's ministries!)

June 18: Get home...again.

July 1-13: I'll possibly be in a group headed to Japan to help with disaster relief!!

From there I'll be home...that is until...

July 31: Leave from Camp (I am the camp counselor for our church's teen girls again this year! YEA!!)

August 5: Go home...Once more...

There might be some traveling with my aunt as she goes out of town for work in all of that too. There should also be fundraising for London.

I am ready for an exciting summer and I hope you are ready to buckle your seat belts to come along! Check out my blog often. Who knows what will happen and what will come my way! While I've done a lot of things in my life time I haven't done a lot of what is considered "normal things". That being said, maybe I'll even visit a taco truck sometime while I'm in my hometown. (Yes, Bryan, that was for you!)

Put your reading glasses on and travel the world through my blog.

The Travelin' Chick,

Crystal

PS: For my friends who actually read the blog - I wonder how many pictures my camera will take this summer? Take a guess, and whomever guesses right or the closest to the right amount might get something cool from the adventures…