White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

March 31, 2011
Forest Gump famously said that "Life is like a box of chocolates."  Well, I'm not one to argue with Forest, but at the moment, I'd say life is like a cookie.  You know what that moment's like? The one where you bite into the most perfectly gooey white chocolate macadamia nut cookie. It melts in your mouth and is perfectly sweet, but not too sweet. That's what the nuts are for. And to add that special crunch. You want to keep eating it because it's so good, but at the same time you want to eat it slow so that it lasts longer. You've got cookie dough flavors and chocolate flavors swirling in your mouth and they mix to make the most perfect blend. Mmmm. You savor the moment and at that very instant all is right with the world. It doesn't matter that you just ate broccoli ten minutes before, because right now you're savoring a cookie. Well, that's what I'm comparing life to right now. It might be a bad analogy, but as I was eating a wonderful white chocolate macadamia nut cookie about five minutes ago, something flashed in my head to compare it to life.
My life right now, it's a cookie. Sometimes it's gooey, sometimes it's crunchy, and sometimes there are sweet chocolate chips that are encountered but other times there's the bitter nuts. I walked out of the second biggest test of my life about an hour ago. Tests were never this intense until I encountered Hispanic Culture and Civilization. They are what every high school student is terrified of when the statement of college exams are mentioned, but never really encounter that freshman year. As I looked back over my test to make sure I had written everything I could remember about Carlos IV or Francisco de Goya or Los Características del Romanticismo, I actually smiled. I felt confident that I did my best on that test. It's a good feeling. That's the gooey-ness of my cookie. [How far can we carry this cheesy analogy??]
Let me back up a bit. Spring Break was amazing. The youth of Park Hill went on a retreat to Castle Bluff (camp grounds) and it was a wonderful time! I am so truly blessed to get to work with such wonderful kids and leaders. So many relationships were built and strengthened, many great laughs, a giant spontaneous dance party, and the Good Word was preached (Dr. Joey Dodson taught on Philippians; amazing!). Not a lot of sleep happened, but it was well worth it and I'd do it again soon in a heartbeat. [Let's call that the chocolate. The sweet moments that make life notable. Because, really, who remembers that cookies have flour or an egg? They remember that there was chocolate!]
I left from there and went home. Followed by much sleep and relaxation! I attempted to do some homework and was decently successful.
I returned to school and was hit by a few massive exams and right as I was studying for the above mentioned exam, I was hit with the truth that I had a week to find a new roommate. The situation of roommates, which I had been assured was remaining the same, was not.  Insert crunch here.  Not only was I shocked that our plans would change at such a last minute time, I was almost peeved that I was notified at a pivotal studying moment.  It's amazing how God works things out for His good.  What I saw as such a hard moment, and the moments following looking for a roommate (OBU has these things called "roommate mixers" and they're the most awkward situations ever! I left in tears), God taught me a lot about trust and peace.  He showed me that He had a plan for a new roommate and new living situation. [[It turns out that Danielle, my current roommate, was in the same situation.  We didn't know each other hardly, but we found that the other needed a roommate the day before sign-ups were due.  There was a new transfer student that needed a home, and another girl who was going to study abroad, but decided not to.  God placed us at just the right time to be together, and it has been the biggest blessing.  We have so many laughs together and it is so wonderful to be surrounded by Godly women.

So, looking back over the situation, cookies are great things. There may be hard times and there may be sweet times, but overall cookies are a wonderful thing. Life is wonderful. Set alone, baking soda and eggs are gross yet sugar is real great. But mixed together they are necessary to make up a cookie.  In the same way, there are hard days and dull days and great days.  All of it makes up life. And overall, God is good and in control and returning. That's the best truth I know. It makes each crunchy day well worth it.  May you enjoy your cookie as much as I do.]]

[[I found this little post in the archives, but it hadn't been finished. So I decided to finish it, almost a year later. The parts put in double brackets were new the new things.]]

Lessons From "The Lark"

The winsome song of the ascending lark

Hails the gentle soul and loving heart

Ever heard in silence sweet

Soul and heart in grace do meet.

-Rose Marie Raccioppi

This afternoon I had the privilege and opportunity to sit in the office of my dean, professor, advisor, and respected mentor, Dr. Wight.  Sitting in his new office filled with art, skulls, jars of brains, and books lining the walls, I learned some very valuable lessons today.  Besides talk of future possibilities, we got to talk about life in general. And I learned SO much.  I've been so blessed recently to have the opportunity to be surrounded by godly wisdom.

The above painting is called "The Song of The Lark," and the lesson that I learned from Dr. Wight regarding this painting really sums up some things that I've been reading and learning from other places the past few weeks. 

In this painting, the poor young woman has been working hard all day with her sickle; and as the sun sets she stops amidst the toil to appreciate the moment. She finds joy even after a long hard day.  Dr. Wight told me that he has this painting in his office to remind him that there is joy in every moment and any place to live is as good as any, depending on the perspective you bring to the place.  Life is not made up of how much stuff we have or whether or not we live in a "cool" city; it is made up of the relationships and perspectives you bring to it.  Christ calls us to a life of joy.  With Him as the center, we can see joy in the sunrise of a long, hard day of cutting wheat. Sunsets can signify so many things: the ending of seasons, the sadness in life, the dusky-in-between of light and dark, the peaceful end of work, and the reminder that each day has a start and beginning and God is faithful to return the day with the morning.
-Thank you Dr. Wight, for your wisdom and willingness to share with me.

September | A Month of Pictures in Review

I know, I know, I'm lame. This month has flown by and I'm not sure where all it went! But here's a month in review of my picture-a-day project. I have two or three pictures that I took on my phone that I'll put up later. And this past week has been absolute chaos, so I'm missing a few days. But if you want to know where I was in my absence, I was taking the GRE and Spanish tests. It's been insane. Hopefully after a presentation Monday and Homecoming this weekend life will slow down. Despite the craziness, God is doing big things! Maybe later I'll fill you in on them. (: 

I uploaded the pictures as if I had posted a new post each day, so they are in reverse order. You might want to start at the end of this post to get the full effect because some pictures relate to the ones before. (: I also found a neat collage program on my computer, so I can now upload many pictures and not take up so much space! (: 

Day 31 | See You At The Pole

September 28

Always a favorite time for me in the Fall! I went to the middle school to pray with our kids in the morning and then we ended with a community-wide service that evening. God did big things this day.

Day 30 | School House Rock

September 26

Our theater department put on School House Rock and Becca and Angela and I went! So much fun to remember all the songs that taught us Grammar and Math! 

Day 29 | Tiger Serve Day!

September 24

We got a Tiger Serve Day team together with our youth girls. Such a good time to build relationships AND help the community. It was good. Really good. (:

Day 28 | Sunset

September 22

We have a terrific view from our window and the sun was setting perfectly. So I took lots of pictures of it. This one is my favorite.

Day 27 | Austin's Picture!

September 21

Austin drew me a picture as I was leaving the school! The green person is me and the blue people are him. It was so cute and basically made my week! (: 

Day 26 | Flowers + Sun = Fun

September 20

These were too happy and the sun was too pretty not to take a picture of them. 

[I got these by basically laying in the grass. One of the guys in some of my classes walked by and thought I was really strange. ha! All in the name of photography!]

Day 25 | Fender Bender

September 19

A man ran into my car. Poor Eugene has some lovely scrapes on his rear. Not a fun start to my week.

Day 24 | Rain!

September 18

It rained for the first time in many weeks! Not the best picture, but at least I took one! (:

Day 23 | Boomtown Classic

September 17

The OBU band traveled for the first time in 6 years to El Dorado, AR for the Boomtown classic. The team won, the band was great, and despite being really bus-sick, it was a great little road trip. 

Day 22 | Clark County Fair

September 16

Becca and I explored the fair. It was so cute and fun! I mean, we were finished walking the entire fair grounds in about ten minutes, but it was definitely a fun time of craft rooms, people watching, animal contests and of course, cotton candy and carmel apples!

Day 21 | Little Italy

September 15

After band practice one day, Erica had a craving for Little Italy so we introduced Kelly to the great restaurant! 

Day 20 | Sonic

September 13

Kim and I took Laura (one of our youths) to dinner at Chick and then to Sonic one evening. A good time of fellowship and relationship-building. (: 

Day 19 | Abnormal Starbucks

September 12

Erica, Angela, and I are taking Abnormal Psychology this semester and we had our first test. We got together and reviewed the material. We all aced the test, too!

Day 18 | Decisions

September 11

We have hired new interns to work with our youth this year. Most of our crew graduated last year, so we expanded to hire on awesome new ones. Many applied, and it was our job to accept or not accept the applicants. This was taken as I was thinking and praying over the candidates and if they were fit to work with our youth. It was a heavy decision. I take the lives of our kids very seriously and we only want committed interns. It was an intense, but good decision. (We kept all five applicants, in case you were wondering, and it has been a good decision so far!) 

Day 17 | OBU Football

September 10 

I can't remember who we played, but I remember we won! This was taken at our first football game. It was surprisingly more fun than previous years. (:

Day 16 | CogLab

September 9

Every Friday night we have an assignment due for my Cognition class.  We get to participate in psychological studies and learn how the brain learns. Crazy!  This was taken as I was finishing up one Friday night.

Day 15 | Spanish Homework

September 8

A typical sight on Monday and Wednesday nights as I try to finish up "Tarea de Espanol" for the next morning. 

Day 14 | America Reads

September 7

I joined the America Reads team this year as a volunteer. America Reads is a program that sends students into the elementary schools to help students learn to read. I get to tutor a 1st grader named Austin. It has been a blast! September 7th was the first day of tutoring, and it has been amazing ever since. Austin loves to learn to read! He is so excited everyday as I show up and loves reading to me. We play fun games (which teach him letters and words without him knowing). He is a precious kid! Tutoring has definitely been a stress-reliever in my semester. To get outside of normal activities and be around first graders is a definite change, but so worth it!

Day 13 | 125th Musical Showcase

September 6

This year is OBU's 125th anniversary. Sept. 6th has been named state-wide Ouachita Day by governor Beebe. The music department put on a showcase to celebrate and I snapped a few pictures while I was in the audience. The performances were awesome!! 

Day 12 | Labor Day

September 5

This one might should be called "Labor-less" Day. I spent the day reading and relaxing. 

Day 11 | Frisco Date

September 4 

Kelly, Erica and I are all native Frisconians and happen to all attend OBU! It has been an absolute blessing and a blast having all three of us around this year! (Kelly joined Erica and I this fall). We decided one Sunday afternoon to go on a walk to the train park. It was such a relaxing and fun time!

Day 10 | Downtown Photowalk

September 3

I wanted to go shoot some pictures, so I picked a theme for today: Buildings, wheels and reflections.  I wandered around downtown for a few hours and had a blast finding a few neat gems. Next time I'll have to take someone so its safe to explore sketchy parts. (: 

Day 9 | AHS Football

September 2

I went to the football game with Becca and Angela to support some of our youth in the band. These little girls were precious! So I kinda stole some pictures of them. It was fun to join in the community event and actually sit at a football game. I've realized that I'm not sure how to behave at football games if I'm not in the band. Arkadelphia football games are definitely a community event. I've decided that I like football (Americano and futbol!)

Day 8 | "Men Working"

September 1

There has been construction in our lobby for a few days to correct some water damage, and I passed this sign a few times today and found it really funny. One time that I walked under it, it was hung on a clothes hanger... Oh Arkansas! 

Day 7 | Youth Games

August 31

Our first official "regular" youth night! It was actually the parents' meeting, so I'm not sure how regular it was, but Nate and I got to lead games, which is always a blast

Day 6 | Bugs!?

August 30

Danielle and I were getting ready for bed and we found this lovely slug on the wall. Naturally we freaked out a bit. It took some guts ( no pun intended ) but we captured the little guy and flushed him. The next morning, I got up early and went to breakfast and came back to a text from Danielle saying she had found the giant bug on the ceiling when she woke up! Not something fun to wake up to. This time we were real grossed out so we got our dorm mom, Sarah, to come help us. He was flushed too. We don't usually have gross bugs on the third floor of new buildings, but we think these guys were from some construction they are doing to the lobby. They have sprayed our room twice since, and we've only found a few crickets. I know God made them, and they are sort of neat, but I sure hate finding them in my sleeping space!

Day 5 | Ice

August 29

I opened my fridge today and found this stalagmite (or is it a stalactite?) on my little ice tray. So I thought I should photograph it because it was kinda funny and neat. My life is exciting, I know. (:

Day 4 | Snow Cones

Snow Cones by Mary on the last day of the "snow cone season." Delicious, refreshing and fun!

Day 3 | Guitar Hero

 I got to hang out with two of my favorite Arkadelphian kids tonight as the Beans went on the Campus Ministries retreat. We had a blast eating favorite fast foods (Subway and McDonald's, of course!) and movies followed by some intense Guitar Hero Competition. These guys bring so much joy to my life.  If you can't tell from Caleb's dancing, we have a fun time together. (: Tomorrow morning holds some monkey bread baking, a Halo tournament, and more laughs.

Day 2 | The Second First Day of School

So...Here it is. My "Back-To-School Picture." Because OBU is on a block schedule, we have a different set of classes every other day and today was the first day of my Tuesday-Thursday classes. So it counts as a "back-to-school" picture, right? (Mom?)  (:  My suitemate, Alyssa, took this as I headed to class earlier. I had wanted to make today's picture one from a Waffle House run after Refuge, but we ended up not going. Sad. It will come, I'm sure. (:
First impressions of my Tuesday-Thursday classes, you ask? Well, I had a blast in Spanish Short Stories. It was so fun to speak Spanish and be able to understand what was being said. It will be a challenge, but I think I'll like it. And then this afternoon I had Abnormal Psychology. I love the professor and think the topic will be so interesting! I can't wait to get started! [I might be a nerd...]
The day was complete by our first Refuge of the year. I've been excited about it all week. (: Refuge is our weekly student-led worship service. It has become a highlight of every week and I've certainly missed it this summer. Tonight's service was wonderful! The sermon was about abiding in Christ and what that truly looks like. So many times we know the verses in John 15 (funny that I just read that yesterday, huh.) but we don't live them. It was a good and challenging sermon followed by awesome worship and prayer for one another and our school. Oh how I've missed Ouachita!
So...There you have it...Happy first, second day of school!

Day 1 | Youth Party

It has become a tradition at the beginning and end of each school year to have a cook out at the Eubanks' Lake. I've noticed a trend among pictures from previous years. The scenery and actions are the same, the kids are just a bit older each time. Although we go to the Eubanks' often, it never gets old. Today's picture is of the food line of our party. What a great end to a good first day and a great way to kick off a new year!

Why Hello There, Senior Year!

Today I started the first day of my last year at Ouachita. I can't really fathom that I'm officially a senior in college and that in a few short months I will be graduating and deciding what to do with the rest of my life.  Weird!  I have high hopes for this year.  As I started the year in the caf with breakfast, coffee, and the Word, I poured out my heart to God.  We talked about how apprehensive I am about classes, friends, and my future.  It's amazing how reassuring His Word is.  He reassured me that as I lay my life down to Him, He will take care of the details. (I read John 15 this morning, and especially learned from verses 12-14. It's a cool little full circle command.  Kinda sweet!)
So, for this year - the last year of my undergraduate degree - I want to live. I want to soak in everything I can at Ouachita and enjoy the place I've called home for the past three years. It's exciting to start the beginning of the end of this journey.  Here's to new things, familiar things, new friends, old friends, school, band, youth, and loving life here in Arkadoo!
For the record, day one of classes was pretty good! I'm stoked about my Cognition and especially History of Psychology classes! Physical science might just be a pain, but I think it'll be alright. It's looking to be a great semester!

I also, hesitantly, want to announce a little project. I've wanted to do this for a while now but haven't had the commitment level to actually do it. However, with this being my senior year, I want to document the year and what better way to do that than through pictures. I mean, I love pictures, so why not take one everyday? Plus it'll help me to improve my photography skills.  Therefore, I'm implementing a "Project 365." A picture a day. Rules, you ask? Well, it has to be a good quality picture of something that sums up what I was involved in for the day.  No requirement of people or me or neither, so just whatever I feel like photographing.  I've told some friends and since I'm announcing it on here, maybe I'll actually have a full commitment and finish it till the end. (:
So...Here goes nothing, or something great (take your pick).

I haven't taken a picture yet for today, but I will. I haven't decided what I want it to be yet. So, be on the look out for a surprise! (:

-Brittany

Words From Audrey

One of my favorite actresses is Audrey Hepburn. I never get tired of her movies. I came across a lovely quote from this classy lady today:

“For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.
For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.
For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.
For beautiful hair, let a child run his or her fingers through it once a day.
For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.
People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.
Remember, if you ever need a helping hand, you’ll find one at the end of each of your arms. As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.
The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.
The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mode, but the true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives and the passion that she shows.
The beauty of a woman grows with the passing years.”

Pianos, Strawberry Ice Cream, and Nostalgia.

Today I played the piano. I haven’t touched it since before Chile (and months before that), but I have been itching to do so all week. So today I finally did. It felt so wonderful and so right. I don’t know why I ever stopped. I guess I feel the same way about journaling and reading the Bible. I’ll go for a few days without doing so and it is always a chore to pick up my Bible or journal again, but once I do I realize how much I miss it. Things should change in that regard.
All worries faded away as I played Claude Debussy’s Moonlight Sonata. I flipped a few pages and flowed into Claire de Lune, one of my all time favorites. I could still play. What a wonderful feeling to be able to pick something back up that was such a passion and has been so neglected after all this time. I definitely struggled with parts, but I’ll work on it and get it back to where I was with that piece four years ago. The very last few measures are all giant chords that you roll into. Brilliant. They are a bit of a stretch when one is out of practice. As I hit those chords, memories of when I was first learning the piece flooded over me. Dianne-my piano teacher-taught me how to “properly” roll the chords. Visions of her long, skinny fingers with crazy long fingernails were so vivid. Those fingernails, longer than any pianist’s fingernails should be, were always painted bright red and would clack as she hit the keys. Those keys, from that old, beautiful piano, were cracked from where a little kid had gotten mad and slammed down his book, breaking and chipping every single one of the piano keys. It was quite sad, but for someone learning to play, the chips helped one to know which key was being hit without having to look. Ok, so maybe that was just handicapping them for playing on other pianos, but it seemed easier at the time. (;
It is interesting how many vivid memories can come back with just a strike of one chord. Puts a new light on the saying “that really struck a chord.” For me tonight, it literally did. Wonderful memories, mixed with a bit of nostalgia and some sadness for time past. So naturally, the only cure-all for a funky mood was luckily available to me in our freezer. Strawberry ice cream. “Pink-Stuff” as it has been called before by loved ones. To me, chocolate is not the go-to food; it’s strawberry ice cream. It has the ability to let me sit in my nostalgic moods for a time, but it is such a happy ice cream that it doesn’t allow me to wallow. I can’t help but leave the bowl with a smile.
So strike up the band, keep your chin up, and keep playing. Life continues through nostalgia and it is a beautiful thing.
[P.S. I plan to play the piano tomorrow too. I'm excited!]

Things I Forgot...And Things I Miss

I haven't forgotten about posting pictures from Chile, I just haven't taken the time to do it. I apologize. However, I'm going to do that now. I also realized that I left out many details from our time in Chile in my last post. I intend to fill some of those in at the moment, which is always easier with pictures anyway.  They're a little out of order, but that's ok. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have enjoyed taking them!

This is one of the central post offices. It used to be an old mansion, but the government now uses it. Gorgeous!

I think this is a Catholic church. I fell in love with the architecture of Chile!

First bus ride on the public transportation!

This was taken inside one of the cathedrals. Chile is very Catholic. 

I think this is one of my favorite pictures from the trip.

On the second day we were in Santiago, we got introduced to TranSantiago, the public transportation system: Buses and Subways. We toured around and got to explore Central Santiago. We went in about three or four cathedrals and a few markets.

Another Catholic church.

We got to hang out with lots of youth kids, and this was taken during a game for one of the youth meetings. We laughed so much that night!

The first weekend we were in Chile, we got to help out with a clinic down by the beach, in Vina. It ended up storming that day, so we took the clinic to the people, and my job was to keep these precious little kids entertained with face painting. It was a blast being able to be creative, but the day was spent in confusion trying to understand Spanish-well Chilean actually. It got better, but I'm sure all the Chileans were laughing at me. This little girl wanted a butterfly, but I couldn't ever make her happy because my "artwork" wasn't as good as the girl before her's. Kids are funny. (:

Brandon got to play lots of soccer! He loved it! I only made it to one game because they would play late at night and it was cold! But I enjoyed the one game I went to. (: The courts they would play on were about the size of a basketball court and they would play 7 on 7 or 5 on 5. Brandon said it was so much fun. (:

This was at Los Dominicos, a really expensive but awesome artesian shopping center. I found some really pretty leather journals that I would have loved. But they were about $40 and I wasn't about to spend that much on a journal...It was a fun day of shopping though.

Los Dominicos

The entrance of Los Dominicos

Ah, Santa Lucia! This is a hidden treasure of Santiago. It is a hill in the middle of downtown and just looks like trees, but as you get closer there is a castle in the hill. One of the founders of Chile built it and basically it was his fortress while he invaded the natives and made Chile European. There's about a dozen things named after Pedro de Valdivia in Santiago.

Graffiti was everywhere!

On Thursdays Brandon and I would go to a preschool with a lady from church and tell the kids Bible stories and sing songs with them. The kids were crazy but really adorable! The preschool songs get stuck in our heads all the time...only slightly annoying. We know how to sing "This Little Light of Mine" and a few others in Spanish really well. (:

View of Santiago from San Cristobal.

Aaron and I on our way to San Cristobal.

San Cristobal is a hill that you can climb (or drive up) and at the top is this giant statue of Santa Maria (Mary-mother of Jesus). Like I said, Chile is very Catholic. It was a beautiful monument. After we saw the statue, we got a glimpse of the view of Santiago. We also went Geo Cacheing. Super fun!

These boys. Sleeping with the dogs. (:
I'm so glad that these three guys were part of the trip! We laughed so much and had so much fun together.
(And I guess we'll accept Aaron even if he did graduate from Henderson..) (;

Our little San Cristobal group. The other girl is Michelle, one of the members of the church. She is a ninth grader, I think, and speaks really good English. She was fun to have around!

Sporting our school spirit! Aaron was out numbered on the OBUness.

(:

It looks like there's mist on the mountain, but really it's just smog..but it makes for a cool picture! (:

Sweet missionary friends, taken at our MK girls' slumber party.
Lauren, the blonde, is in Santiago for the summer doing journalism for the IMB. It was a blast to have her around!
Chloe is an MK and always good for some laughs! (:

We went skiing! This is the view from the slopes. The Andes Mountains are gorgeous!!

Oh, we're just waiting on the bus after a great day at Grace College.

This is the mountain we skied on. It was a blast, and I can now say I learned to ski in the Andes, but oh goodness was it hard! I was sore for days.

Bus ride from Grace College

They put my name on my skis. Cute (:

Lunch at Grace College. (: Yum!

Fun kids at Grace College. (I actually don't know these kids, but I was taking pictures and they wanted a picture, so here it is. They're cute, whoever they are.) (;

For all my library friends and Mom, this is the library. They're a little short on books.
 We would hang out here during class breaks because it was warm and quiet.

After a long day of skiing. (:

Franco! He was one of our favorite 3rd graders. Sort of a class clown, but real fun!

Again, at the ski slopes. Sorry they're so out of order...

The cheesy "let's take a picture of ourselves" picture taken from the Air and Space Museum.

Santa Lucia close up!

Santa Lucia. Love it!

Taken at the top of Santa Lucia.
Behind us is what we found to be the local adolescent hangout and make out spot. Talk about awkward!

Our group from the Air and Space Museum. (:

National Library
Biblioteca Naccional.

First graders before chapel.
We worked with this class many times, and I came to love them! They were a bit nuts, but I loved it. Maybe since I wasn't their regular teacher I could enjoy their craziness. (:

We got to color at the school. (:

Brandon's favorite 6th graders. They enjoyed getting beat by him in ping pong. (:

One Tuesday, a group from Brazil came in and held chapel. It was awesome to get to work with another missionary group from a different country. And it was really awesome to worship God in multiple languages and know that we were praising the same God. He is a God that is not bound by language like we are!

Trip to Vina del Mar with the 9th graders from Grace College to deliver blankets to a drug rehab center. Pictured with us is Mister Ariel, the chaplain of Grace. I cherished his friendship while we were there.

The group at the drug rehab center.

Yes, they have Starbucks in Chile. There were quite a few, actually.

And Pizza Huts, and Domino's and Papa Johns...and Applebees!

Coca-Cola!

You can't really see it in this picture, but this is a university "En Paro" or on strike. They students of many high schools and universities had taken over the schools, mainly the public ones, and were trying to get the government to reform education. There were many marches while we were there. The students were staying in the schools during all of this. We found it almost ridiculous and interesting.

Comida Tipica del Chile.
Typical Chilean food. You would never guess to put french fries, onions, fried eggs, and stew meat together, but it was actually pretty tasty. Really unhealthy, but tasty!

Pastor Ariel and "El Rector" (Principal) of Grace College.
Wonderful men with big hearts for the children of Grace.

Youth Meeting with Iglesia Bautista de Argomeda.
We were invited to come to their youth meeting and had a blast! We danced (yes, in a Baptist church) and sang and played games and laughed a lot!

This is what most streets look like in Santiago. The mountains so prevalent in the background and the buses everywhere. This is actually clearer than usual. Usually there's people everywhere!

Back to the Argomedo Church. Brandon got labeled as Justin Bieber and the kids found it hilarious! (Not going to lie, I did to.) He actually sang part of "Baby" for them. It was awesome! I think I cried from laughing so much.

They guys like to stop and smell the roses. Aren't they sweet?
(:

At the Argomedo Church, we were served these hot dogs. Yum...
Chileans are almost obsessed with hot dogs. It's interesting. But they're not just normal hot dogs. They put lots of mayo and tomatoes and sometimes guacamole and tons of other stuff on it. I'll pass. I seem to always go to the countries with interesting hot dog habits...

Believe it or not, this picture was taken in a Home Depot! It looked exactly like ours do, except everything was in Spanish. And they were selling candies and jams. Bizarre!

Back at the first youth meeting pictured. (:

Well, this is totally out of order, but I'm not going to change it. This was right before we went through security in DFW to leave for Chile. The excitement is brimming over on our faces! (:

I can't put up all the photos, so I think the easiest way to see them all is from Facebook. Here's the link to my albums from: Photo Album 1 Photo Album 2 Photo Album 3 Photo Album 4.  Let me know if they don't work and I'll try to figure something out. I also uploaded pictures to the Picassa Web Album, but I think the majority are on Facebook. I put the favorites on Picassa.

Well, I think that about sums up the Chile trip. It was a long time to be away, so it's hard to sum everything up, but I think those were the highlights. (: