Sept. 18th, Fresno

So yesterday I was in Morro Bay for the majority of the day, after visits, which went grandly. I was planning on speaking for a class for a short amount of time, ended up being an hour talk, it was awesome! I feel like since that class room I've just been driving, driving, driving....and I'm so tired of driving now. I think I'm permanently bent in a 90 degree angle from sitting for so long.
Morro Bay was a really interesting place, I'd definitely never been there before. It was fog central, almost an eerie town. I was housed with two older couples in my room...okay, not literally in my room, but it sure felt like it with how thin the walls were. The room was cute, and even as an outdoor access hotel room I felt very safe, probably largely in part to knowing there were happy older couples all around me. Apparently, according to Glenda and Gary on the right side of the room, they visited a house yesterday that was huge...and did you know the man who owns it did most of it himself and apparently has quite a nest egg stocked up. Compelling stuff. Left wall, they just watched the news and mumbled throughout the whole ordeal, therefore not as compelling.

If you've ever seen the Steven King movie The Fog, I'm pretty sure they just went to Morro Bay and filmed it there, minus the large insects and acid weaving spiders. Anyway, after leaving the foggilicious land I just drove for....ever, and then got to Fresno.

The drive took me through a highway I'd never been on before, to my knowledge, it was Hwy 41. It was absolutely beautiful. My first surprise was looking up from day dreaming and seeing neon colors, I seriously wasn't sure if I was daydreaming those or not, but there they were, fields of neon orange and neon yellow. Flowers! Thousands of flowers! Of course I had to stop and just gaze and take a few photos, it was so beautiful set against all green and browns of the hills and fields. As I continued driving I came into a pretty desolate part of the highway for the last few hours and just took the opportunity to think.

It's crazy that sometimes what it takes to hear your own voice is when you can't any longer actually hear your own voice. My voice drowns out my thoughts. I finally got to hear that deep rooted voice within me, the part that houses the passion- the love, the pain. It was one of the happiest, albeit longest, drives I've had in a long time.

One of the things that kept me occupied for awhile was thinking about if I won the lottery. At first I thought, what would I do if I won $50,000. I decided I would take out 10% for tithe first. With the remainder I would pay off my car completely, put around $10,000 in savings to accrue interest and be back up money. With the remaining sum I would put towards student loans.Then I thought what if it was in the millions, one million or 60 million, didn't matter. Here is what I decided, and believe or not this took a long time once I finally looked at the clock and realized how much I got sucked into my own imagination. So with millions I would pay off my car, pay off my student loans. I would first, however, take a tithe out and split it between a few churches and mission organizations. I would also pay off my brothers and aunts student loans and set aside a full college amount for my little sister. I would pay any debt my parents might have. I would buy myself a new home, nothing crazy fancy but I would be involved in the design and add in an art room. I would buy my parents a new home and create a full and comfy retirement for myself and them both. I would have them keep their current home and put it up for sell or rent, I was thinking rent for students at Corban or Willamette. I would lay down $20,000 for a house one of my aunts wants, the down payment they needed. I would make an anoynomous payment to pay off a couple friends student loan bills. I would make some investments and set a huge chunk to just accrue interest. As an immediate gratification, I would take Donica, Alissa and myself to Europe to backpack around for awhile, I think I would want us to travel how we normally do, except this time we would have a bit nicer hotels and perhaps a few more meals in a day, verses are like one actual meal a day in Mexico. Haha. Then I really got to thinking that I would like to start a Christian organization, adopting a village in much need of an economic boost, and find out what they are good at. Give them clean water, a school, a church and all the resources they would need, but help them create money on their own so the growth and economic standing would increase and continue by their own hands. Oh, and I also decided two more things. I literally in my mind did it this way too, thought of other things for awhile completely unrelated, and then added these on in the car. I thought I want to help kids at North, when I was there last week and when I did my internship in the career and counseling center my senior year at Corban, I saw so much need and not enough encouragement. I want to give them a scholarship to work towards, a school to be proud of, and someting that would help- I'm just not sure what. The other thing I thought of is I would start the Kendra Leigh Foundation, to help college kids with cancer. It's that odd in between time period where some students aren't on parents insurance anymore, but they don't work enough to really make money. I think Kendra would like to of helped people. Apparently I can spend money really quickly.
And that was what I came up with in my daze...

I thought about if I were to get married sometime soon what would I want as a wedding. It was crazy because I literally couldn't think of anything, it was just a blank. Apparently without the man in place I really don't know what I would do. Of course there are a few ideas out there still, I mean, I am still a woman and a thinker. :o)

I looked at the land that God made and gave to us. The beauty was breathtaking. I pondered what it was God had put me in this land to do. What is my purpose, what are my skills sets I haven't been using to His advantage. So much to consider. I think we all need some long solo car rides to really consider what life is all about, because its most certainly not about us, not about our comfort....interestingly enough that was what about my last Bible Study was about. It's Not About Me by Max Lucado, it was a really great book, I recommend it.

This is a long one, sorry. I'll put some photos up from the last two days.
The amazing breakfast that was delivered to my room at the Apple Farm. It was so good but I got full so fast. The was hands down the best scone I've ever had.